Gang Members Plead Guilty to Manslaughter

Two North Hollywood gang members pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter in the death of a man who was beaten and shot outside a store, prosecutors said.

Jose Anthony Moreno, 19, and Andres Camacho Arellano, 22, entered their pleas in San Fernando Superior Court and will be sentenced to seven years in state prison for their role in the slaying of Octaviano Hernandez, 28, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison.

Hernandez was beaten and shot as he sat in a car outside a store on Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Vanowen Street on Dec. 9, 1989, Nison said.

He was confronted by Moreno, Arellano and a third defendant, Samuel Contreras, 26, who asked him what gang he was from, Nison said.

When Hernandez answered with a rival gang name, “they proceeded to pummel the victim as he sat defenseless in the back seat,” Nison said. “They took turns taking swings at him,” he said.

At some point during the beating, Contreras went to his car, took out a .22-caliber handgun and shot Hernandez in the abdomen and the leg, Nison said.

The three men were initially charged with murder but the lesser plea of voluntary manslaughter was accepted because it was “unlikely that there was sufficient evidence” to show that Moreno and Arellano knew Contreras planned to shoot the victim, Nison said.

Contreras has been ordered to stand trial on a charge of murder.