OXNARD : Man Pleads Guilty to Fatal Shooting
A former Oxnard man has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his close friend during a child’s birthday party at Community Park in Oxnard six years ago, prosecutors said Thursday.
Jose Villa, 28, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years to life for the June 18, 1989, shooting death of Guillermo Ortega, 25.
Ortega was shot in the face after he and Villa, a longtime friend, began arguing, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory G. Phillips. Three people who witnessed the shooting were prepared to testify against Villa, he said.
After the shooting, Villa fled to Mexico and in 1992 moved to Las Vegas, Phillips said. The defendant, who had changed his identity, was arrested in July in Huntington Park after an informant tipped off police of his whereabouts.
He pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder and using a firearm. The judge also has the option of sentencing him to 18 years to life in prison.
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