PORTER RANCH : CYA Sentence for Slaying Accomplice

An 18-year-old man who admitted participating in the robbery and murder of a Porter Ranch pizzeria manager will be allowed to serve the first seven years of a 16-years-to-life prison sentence in a California Youth Authority facility, a San Fernando Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

Oscar Hernandez Villanueva, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in April under a plea agreement with prosecutors in exchange for the lighter sentence, will be held in a juvenile facility until his 25th birthday and then will be transferred to state prison for the remainder of his sentence.

Villanueva faced a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole under the original charge. He agreed to testify against his two alleged accomplices in the Jan. 14, 1993, killing.

One of the accomplices, Alex Martinez Velasquez, 19, pleaded guilty last October to first-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced today to 26 years to life in prison. He, too, faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole had he been convicted in a trial.

Dusty Tyrone Castillo, 19, the third man charged in connection with the murder-robbery of John Michael Holden, 19, is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 30. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

All three men were under 18 years of age when the killing occurred, but all were ordered to stand trial as adults.

According to police, Velasquez and Castillo entered Ameci In & Out Pizza & Pasta restaurant in Porter Ranch and demanded money. Villanueva waited outside in a getaway car.

After Holden handed over $450, Castillo allegedly shot him once in the chest. Holden died later in the hospital.