OXNARD : 3rd Man Sentenced for 1993 Killing

An Oxnard gang member was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison for his part in the 1993 fatal shooting of a man celebrating a friend’s discharge from the Army.

Willard Bolo, 24, was convicted of second-degree murder in the Dec. 18, 1993, slaying of Paul Martinez at the Motel 6 on Johnson Road in Ventura.

Bolo is the third and final defendant convicted of murder in the incident. A fourth defendant was convicted of being an accessory to murder.

Martinez, then 21, of Whittier, and the defendants were celebrating in separate rooms of the motel when Martinez and 21-year-old Shaun Bolo, Willard’s brother, became embroiled in an argument.

The Bolos and others in their party left and piled into several cars in the motel parking lot, according to the prosecution. That is when Martinez, who was standing on the balcony, was shot.

Shaun Bolo pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison in December. Steven Hidalgo, 20, of Port Hueneme, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and shooting a gun.

Naomi Honohan, a 20-year-old former Channel Islands High School cheerleader, has already served a two-year sentence for being an accessory to the murder and is on parole, Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy said.