NEWBURY PARK : L.A. Man Given 27-Years-to-Life in Fatal Beating

A Ventura County judge sentenced a Los Angeles man to 27-years-to-life Thursday for fatally beating a popular Newbury Park busboy with a crowbar so severely last May that the victim was first believed to have been shot.

Despite a plea for leniency from the defendant’s father, Superior Court Judge James J. McNally explained that state law required a long sentence for Raul Paul Urquidi, 23, who pleaded guilty in August to first-degree murder.

Urquidi received 25-years-to-life for the murder conviction, plus an additional year each for using a deadly weapon--the crowbar--and having a prior felony conviction. He previously had been convicted of forgery.

Urquidi fatally bludgeoned Rodolfo Macias, 25, on May 25. Urquidi and Macias had been in a dispute over Macias’ girlfriend, officials said.

Urquidi had been living on and off with Macias and five roommates for three months before the slaying. Macias was asleep and the others had gone to work when Macias was attacked by Urquidi with the 24-inch crowbar.

Urquidi later told authorities of the bludgeoning: “I couldn’t stop. . . . I lost it,” according to a county probation report.

Macias, who worked at the Country Harvest restaurant in Newbury Park, sent $500 a month to his elderly parents in Mexico.

Urquidi is a martial-arts expert, said his father, Isaac Urquidi.

The father asked for leniency for his son, telling the judge: “He is a young man who would give his lunch money to children who didn’t have enough to eat.

“He understands he must pay a price,” Isaac Urquidi said. “But the price should not be one that should ruin his life.”