OXNARD : Man Sentenced for Slaying Friend
A former Oxnard man was sentenced Thursday to 17 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a lifelong friend during a child’s birthday party in Oxnard six years ago.
Jose Villa, 28, who pleaded guilty earlier this month, received the mandatory sentence of 15 years to life for second-degree murder. Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath imposed an additional two years because a gun was used in the crime.
Guillermo Ortega, 25, was shot in the face during an argument with Villa at Community Center Park on June 18, 1989. Although three witnesses to the shooting were prepared to testify against Villa if the case went to trial, no one could say what the dispute was that led to the murder, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory G. Phillips said.
The prosecutor said Villa and Ortega grew up together in Mexico, and both moved to the United States in the early 1980s. Attendees at the birthday party, held for a 10-year-old boy, were all related, Phillips said.
Ortega’s sister married into Villa’s family, authorities said.
Police searched for Villa for years after the murder. Phillips said Villa apparently fled to Mexico after the shooting, then moved to Las Vegas, where he worked under an assumed name.
He was arrested in July, 1994, at his mother’s Huntington Park home after police received an anonymous phone tip disclosing his location.
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