LONG BEACH : Gang Member Pleads Not Guilty in Students’ Deaths
A San Pedro gang member accused of the point-blank shooting deaths March 25 of two Japanese students pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Raymond Oscar (Mugsy) Butler, 19, could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Takuma Ito and Go Matsuura, both 19. The Marymount College students died in a parking lot near a Ralphs supermarket on Western Avenue in San Pedro.
Butler is accused of two counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance allegation that he committed multiple murders.
At Butler’s preliminary hearing earlier this month, a Japanese student from Marymount testified that he saw the defendant approach Ito and demand his keys moments before the two occupants of the Honda Civic were shot in the head.
Masaki Miyake also said he saw Butler push Ito against the Honda before hearing the gunshots. A second defendant, Alberto Raygoza, 20, pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property and being an accessory after the fact of robbery. He is expected to be sentenced on Friday to 32 months in prison.
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