SAN FERNANDO : 12-Year Sentence in Death of Hearing-Impaired Man
A man convicted of killing a man and wounding his brother after mistaking their sign language for aggressive gang signs was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in the California Youth Authority.
Joey Paul Bellinger Jr., 19, pleaded no contest in June to voluntary manslaughter for shooting to death Cesar Vieira, 30, and wounding Edward Vieira, 28, two hearing-impaired brothers. Had he not accepted a plea bargain, Bellinger could have been sentenced to life in prison for the January, 1990, shooting.
Superior Court Judge Howard Schwab sentenced Bellinger to the maximum term for voluntary manslaughter. Bellinger, purportedly a member of a Westside gang called KAOS, and four others were in a car when they encountered the Vieira brothers on a motorcycle waiting at a Balboa Boulevard traffic light.
Police said the brothers were conversing in sign language and may not have understood what was about to happen. One of the car’s passengers said Bellinger flashed a gang sign--a “K” for KAOS, and one of the brothers responded by raising his middle finger.
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