Convicted Tagger a No-Show for 20-Day Jail Term : Vandalism: Attorney says he hopes David Hillo, wounded in incident in which his friend was shot to death, forgot to report.

David Hillo, the convicted tagger who was wounded during a confrontation with armed resident William Masters, failed to surrender in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Friday to begin serving a 20-day jail term.

Hillo, 20, of North Hollywood, was sentenced May 5 in a plea agreement with city prosecutors and ordered to turn himself in at 8:30 a.m. Friday. When he had not arrived by noon, Van Nuys Municipal Judge Alan Ellis issued an arrest warrant.

Hillo’s attorney, Luis A. Carrillo, said he had not planned to be in court Friday, and only discovered that Hillo was missing when he called the courtroom to make sure that he had arrived.

“I don’t know why he didn’t show up,” Carrillo said. “I hope that he just forgot and that he will accept his responsibilities. It’s not an excuse, but David is still suffering and traumatized from the shooting.”

Hillo and his best friend, Cesar Rene Arce, 18, were scrawling graffiti beneath a freeway overpass in Sun Valley when they were confronted by Masters, who later said he was taking his usual late-night walk near his home.

Masters told police that the two taggers, one of whom was allegedly armed with a screwdriver, tried to rob him after he wrote down the license plate number of their car. Masters pulled out a gun from a fanny pack and shot and killed Arce. He shot and wounded Hillo in the buttocks as Hillo tried to flee.

Felony charges were not filed against Masters because officials with the district attorney’s office concluded that he acted in self-defense. The city attorney’s office, however, charged Masters with carrying a concealed and loaded weapon.

His trial on the misdemeanor charge is scheduled for Tuesday.

The plea agreement with Hillo to settle misdemeanor vandalism charges called for him to spend 20 days in jail and work 60 days on a graffiti cleanup detail. After the sentencing, Hillo said that he was not looking forward to going to jail, but that “I just have to do it.”