Ip Gets 4 Years in Pacific Beach Killing

Roger Sing Ip was sentenced Wednesday to four years in state prison for killing a 15-year-old boy in 1989 after a traffic dispute in Pacific Beach.

Ip, 35, of Spring Valley, received the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter. A jury convicted him on that charge Feb. 20.

Ip was acquitted of first- and second-degree murder in two trials stemming from the July 10, 1989, shooting death of Kurt Von Yokes, a Mission Bay High School student.

Prosecutors are going ahead with a third trial on the unresolved allegation of personal use of a weapon during the crime. That trial date is set for June 3. If convicted of the weapon charge, Ip could get two more years.

Ip, held in County Jail since he surrendered at the County Courthouse on July 27, 1989, was given credit for 903 days in custody including time off for good behavior.

Michael Popkins, Ip’s attorney, said afterward that Ip could be released “by the end of the year, subject to what happens at retrial.”

Judge Herbert Exarhos imposed a $10,000 fine against Ip, who formerly owned the China Inn Restaurant in Pacific Beach.

Ip had just left the restaurant when he had a near-collision with the car carrying Yokes and two other teen-agers. Ip testified that he followed the youths after they yelled racial and vulgar slurs, and his gun discharged accidentally when his truck lurched forward while he was parked on the street where the youths’ car stopped.

Exarhos denied probation for Ip and noted that he had “numerous opportunities” to avoid the confrontation.

Robert Yokes, the boy’s father, declined to comment directly on the sentencing, but the family’s attorney, John Moot, said the family supports prosecutors’ decision to retry Ip on the unresolved gun count.

“It’s against the law to carry a loaded weapon in a vehicle,” Moot said.

“Both Mr. Yokes and I were outraged that Mr. Ip made application for probation. We didn’t see any signs of remorse. We were shocked that Mr. Ip didn’t apologize to the family, made no statement to the family.”

The Yokes family has filed a wrongful death suit against Ip and the restaurant he once owned.