SANTA PAULA : Gang Member Is Sentenced in Killing

A 20-year-old Santa Paula gang member was sentenced Friday to 16 years to life in state prison for fatally stabbing another Santa Paula man.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. gave Danny Vasquez the most severe sentence possible under the law, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger A. Inman.

After little more than two days of deliberations in June, a jury found Vasquez guilty of second-degree murder and of using a knife in the attack against David Lovato, 20, on July 11, 1991.

The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 15 years to life, and the use of the knife can carry an extra year, Inman said.

Campbell chose to make the two sentences consecutive, denying a request from Vasquez’s attorney, Public Defender Howard Asher, to make them concurrent.

Asher was unavailable for comment.

Vasquez will be eligible for parole in about 10 years. “That’s the minimum he’ll serve,” Inman said. “Theoretically, he could serve for the rest of his life.”

The California Youth Authority, which often takes young offenders until they are 25, declined to accept Vasquez because of the length of his sentence, Inman said.

“The CYA people did not feel he should go,” Inman said.