Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Parolee to Stand Trial in Slaying of Girlfriend, 16

A 19-year-old parolee was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges that he fatally shot his 16-year-old girlfriend, a Littlerock High School student, when she visited his Palmdale apartment to retrieve her pager.

Antelope Municipal Judge Ian R. Grant found that there is sufficient evidence to try Manuel Guadalupe Sanchez Jr. for murder after a Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigator testified that Sanchez admitted firing the handgun that killed Nicole Inuma of Llano.

Sanchez, who is on parole for receiving stolen property, also was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, Deputy Dist. Atty. John B. Evans said. The defendant is being held in County Jail without bail, pending a Superior Court arraignment June 7.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole, the prosecutor said.

During Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Lee testified that Sanchez provided at least two accounts of how Inuma died May 6 in his apartment on 2nd Street E.

When he first spoke to deputies, Sanchez said he and Inuma were watching television when an unidentified man knocked at the door, forced his way inside and pointed a revolver at Sanchez. Inuma shoved him out of the way and was hit in the chest by a bullet, Sanchez originally told deputies.

But during a later interview, “his story went from a third party doing the shooting to his admission that he was the one who fired the gun,” Evans said.

Sanchez told detectives that he was removing a gun from his waistband when it fired accidentally, striking Inuma. “The defendant identifies himself as the shooter,” the prosecutor said. “He just says he had an excuse.”

Evans said he questions the second account because the bullet followed a slight downward path and because several witnesses heard the couple arguing before the shooting occurred.

In court papers, investigator Lee said that Sanchez had stolen Inuma’s pager “to assist him in selling marijuana.” An argument erupted when Inuma arrived to take back the device, he said.

Sanchez’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Richard Guluzza, called no witnesses during Tuesday’s hearing. Guluzza could not be reached for comment.