VAN NUYS : Man Gets 15 Years in Fatal Bar Shooting

An unemployed machinist was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in state prison for fatally shooting one man and critically injuring another during a drinking spree in a Van Nuys bar.

Joe Andrew Lozano, 31, was convicted last month of voluntary manslaughter for gunning down Ronald Wayne Clark, 26, in the Rack ‘N’ Tap bar on Van Nuys Boulevard on April 7, 1992.

Clark’s friend, Gregory Garner, 29, was shot in the side and then chased out of the bar, where Lozano fired several more shots that missed.

During his trial, Lozano testified that he had been drinking for nearly 24 hours to celebrate his 30th birthday when he played a game of pool with Clark and Garner.

“Everybody would say this wouldn’t have happened except for Joe Lozano’s alcohol use” that followed a bitter divorce proceeding, said defense attorney Stephen Hogg.

Violence erupted when Clark made several racial comments and said he was affiliated with a white supremacist organization, according to Lozano.

“There had to be at least some premeditation because he was walking around with a loaded gun in his pocket,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Acaldo, who asked for a 17-year sentence.

However, Acaldo agreed with Hogg that Lozano has expressed a great deal of remorse for the killing.

Prosecutors had charged Lozano with murder and attempted murder, both of which carry life prison sentences.

Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz gave Lozano 11 years--the maximum term--for the manslaughter charge. She added four years because Lozano used a gun in the crime. A three-year term for the assault conviction will run concurrently with the 15-year sentence.

Lozano will first be eligible for parole in about 6 1/2 years.