Century High Student’s Killer Gets 29 Years to Life

Standing just feet away from his son’s killer, a tearful Victor Lopez told a judge Friday how the death of 17-year-old Jose Luis Lopez had left his family shattered.

“He didn’t just kill my son, he killed my entire family,” Lopez said of Miguel Camarena, the Santa Ana gang member convicted of shooting the teen-age soccer player in the head as the victim drove to Century High School on Feb. 26, 1993.

“You can only imagine how it felt when Jose was murdered,” the father said. “He was a young man who worked hard and studied. He was not some kid on the streets. The year before he was murdered, he represented the United States in a soccer tournament.”

Orange County Superior Court Judge James A. Jackman sought to console the grieving father, then sentenced 19-year-old Camarena to 29 years to life in prison.

“My heart goes out to you and your family,” the judge said to Lopez, 38. “I can’t help but feel the tragedy you feel. I don’t have the power to do the one thing that would ease your pain, and that is to bring your son back.”

The killing occurred when Camarena was 17, just two months shy of his 18th birthday. He was ordered to stand trial as an adult.

The judge rejected a defense attorney’s request that the defendant be sentenced to the California Youth Authority until he turns 25 and then be released.

Jackman could have ordered Camarena to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But instead he sentenced the youth to 25 years to life in prison, plus another four years because a gun was used in the slaying.

In addition, the judge upheld an enhancement charge that the killing was gang-related, which means that Camarena will not be paroled until he has served at least 15 years. Camarena will be housed by the California Youth Authority until he turns 25 and then transferred to prison, the judge said.

“When you pull a trigger on a gun and someone innocent dies, you can’t ignore that,” Jackman said.

In April, a jury took just two hours to convict Camarena of first-degree murder, along with the special circumstance allegation that he was lying in wait for his victim and had committed a gang-related crime.

Camarena sat expressionless as Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Rozenberg said he deserved to spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“He’s completely devastated a family and killed an innocent boy,” Rozenberg said. “He’s sorry someone was killed, but he has not taken responsibility for what he’s done and that’s consistent with gang mentality.”

Deputy Public Defender James Appel had asked the judge for leniency because he said his client was intellectually impaired, had a clean record until the shooting and could benefit from training and treatment at the Youth Authority.

“My client committed a very violent act, there’s no question about that,” Appel said. “But he had no criminal history. . . . He has spent his life in special education classes.”

Appel, who had argued in the trial that his client did not intend to kill anyone, said the sentence will be appealed.

Camarena had lost a fistfight to the victim’s brother, Adrian Lopez, two days before Jose Lopez was killed. Jose Lopez had watched but did not participate in the fight. Rozenberg said the shooting was a “pay-back,” a tenet of street justice that often leads gang members to take action against perceived wrongs.

“He did in fact intend to kill and waited at that corner for his intended target,” Rozenberg said. “I believe Jose was the intended target. I don’t believe he saw Adrian in the back seat.”

After his brother was shot in the head, Adrian Lopez ran to the high school, crying out that his brother had been wounded. He was in court Friday to address the judge at the sentencing but was nearly too emotional to speak.

“He didn’t deserve to die,” the 18-year-old said, choking back tears. “He wasn’t bad, he was good. I don’t know why (Camarena) killed him.”

Outside of court, the families of both the victim and the defendant carefully avoided each other. But both expressed grief over Lopez’s death.

“I feel bad for (Lopez’s) parents,” said Camarena’s 42-year-old father, Jose. “It was an accident. I know they feel bad because they lost their son.”

Adrian Lopez, 18, said his family is inconsolable.

“It’s hard because it always comes up,” he said of his brother’s death. “Every time we’re together, there’s someone missing.”