THOUSAND OAKS : Teen-Ager Sentenced in Fatal Stabbing
A 17-year-old Mexican immigrant was sentenced Monday to four years in the California Youth Authority for stabbing a Thousand Oaks nurseryman to death last spring.
A Ventura County Superior Court jury acquitted Jose Luis Navarro of murder on Dec. 3 but failed to reach a verdict on a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of Jose Narvaez, 49, who died of deep stab wounds on April 19 in Thousand Oaks.
Navarro pleaded guilty Dec. 10 to voluntary manslaughter and use of a weapon, charges that carry a maximum penalty of 12 years in state prison.
But Judge Charles R. McGrath chose to give Navarro the minimum four-year sentence after reading the probation officer’s report on the youth. The report recommended probation without prison time for Navarro, citing his age, his previous lack of a criminal record and the circumstances of the crime.
Navarro testified at his trial that he had sodomized Narvaez on the night of the crime, but that he stabbed Narvaez in self-defense when Narvaez tried forcibly to sodomize him.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
