Man, 19, Is Sentenced for Killing Gang Rival

A 19-year-old Oxnard man was sentenced Wednesday to 29 years to life for shooting a rival gang member to death in front of a convenience store last March.

Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath gave Robert B. Truitt the mandatory sentence of 25 years to life for first-degree murder, plus four years for using a gun in the slaying of Manuel Albis, 21, on March 19.

Truitt’s attorney lost a bid to have the judge reduce Truitt’s first-degree murder conviction to second-degree murder on grounds that the shooting was not premeditated, but an impulsive act.

“Mr. Truitt had no intention on the day in question of meeting Mr. Albis,” said defense attorney Willard Wiksell. “He went to the store looking for his brother and he was armed for his own protection” because of earlier animosity between him and Albis, Wiksell said.

Truitt and Albis spoke to each other before the shots were fired, an exchange that would not have happened if Truitt had come intending to kill Albis, Wiksell said.

“There is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this young man contemplated the consequences of his act,” Wiksell said. “He had no premeditated intention to kill.”

However, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn argued, “the defendant was armed with a loaded gun that he brought to an area where it was likely that he was going to run into Mr. Albis . . . . He at least contemplated homicide.”

Glynn said there is also evidence that Truitt had a motive to kill Albis--who had failed to pay back a loan to him. In addition, the two had been involved in an ongoing personal feud for six months, he said.

“This isn’t a single shot,” Glynn said. “This isn’t one spontaneous, violent act; this is five shots fired at Manuel Albis, where four hit in a very small diameter. This type of act shows a preconceived plan.”

In a rebuttal, Wiksell countered, “He didn’t just run over there and shoot him. He ran over there, confronted him, words were had, then he shot him.”

Judge McGrath denied the motion to reduce the charge, saying, “I think the case was well and adequately and competently tried by the jury, and the facts support the decision.”

McGrath granted a request by Truitt that his transfer from the Ventura County Jail to state prison be postponed until after Christmas so he could receive holiday visits from his family. But the judge denied Truitt’s request to hold his 9-month-old daughter briefly in the courtroom, explaining that the court was too busy and that such visits should be arranged through the jail.

Truitt’s mother and sister hugged tearfully outside the courtroom, his mother saying her son had been unjustly convicted and sentenced. “I’m gonna fight this . . . system,” Angel Leyvas said.