Man Gets 12 Years in Slaying of Salvadoran

A 20-year-old Van Nuys man was sentenced Friday to 12 years and four months in prison for voluntary manslaughter in the death of one of two men he beat unconscious and threw off a cliff on Mulholland Drive in Sherman Oaks.

George Ubillus originally was charged with murder in the Sept. 18, 1989, death of Carlos Renderos, a Salvadoran whose age authorities estimated at 21.

But in August, in a plea bargain with prosecutors, Ubillus was allowed to plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter and to one count of robbery in the theft of a man’s wallet and clothing at a nearby park a short time later.

Under terms of the plea agreement, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Raymond A. Mireles sentenced Ubillus to the maximum term possible for those crimes, prosecutors said.

The plea agreement was made because Ubillus was drunk at the time of the killing and was expected to claim at his trial that he beat the victims in self-defense, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuel, the prosecutor in the case.

Ubillus beat Renderos and Francisco Arevalos, 20, unconscious after they came to the aid of two women being taunted by Ubillus and a group of about a dozen other youths, Los Angeles police said.