OXNARD : Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter
A reputed gang member has pleaded guilty in the shooting death of an Oxnard teen-ager last year.
The murder trial of Jessie Casares, 21, of Oxnard was about to begin Monday in Ventura County Superior Court when Casares decided to plead guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the death of William Leadbetter, 17.
Investigators said that on Oct. 22, a passenger in Leadbetter’s truck exchanged menacing stares with Casares, who was riding in a car. When the two vehicles stopped at a traffic light, Leadbetter’s passenger emerged carrying a 4-foot-long pipe.
The car carrying Casares sped off as the light changed, but pulled into a laundry parking lot on 5th Street. When the truck followed, Casares got out of the car and fired a .25-caliber pistol, hitting Leadbetter in the eye, investigators said.
Casares faces a maximum of 16 years for voluntary manslaughter, including a five-year enhanced sentence for shooting into an occupied vehicle and causing a death. He will be sentenced April 8.
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