OXNARD : Youth, 16, Pleads Guilty to Murder

An Oxnard teen-ager whose robbery accomplice was killed during an attempted holdup at a convenience store has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Francisco Gonzalez, 16, faces a possible prison term of 30 years to life when he is sentenced March 5, attorneys said. Besides the murder charge, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to attempted murder and admitted using a gun to commit the crime.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop an allegation that the murder occurred during a robbery, a special circumstance that carries a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Gonzalez was charged with murder in the death of Mark Alan Estrada, 16, of Oxnard, who died of a gunshot wound to the chest Dec. 2 when the pair attempted to rob the Stop ‘N Save convenience store on South Ventura Road in Oxnard. Although Estrada was killed by shop owner T. Roman Paras, 58, Gonzalez was legally responsible for the death because it occurred during a felony in which he participated.

Deputy Public Defender John H. Voigtsberger said he approached prosecutors with the offer to plead if the special circumstance was dismissed. Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said his office accepted the offer in part because of Gonzalez’s youth and the fact that it was an accomplice and not an innocent bystander who was killed.

“We felt, all things considered, that (the sentence) would be a fair and just outcome,” Kossoris said.

Gonzalez remains in Juvenile Hall pending sentencing.