Gang Member Gets 7 Life Terms

One member of the Asian Boyz street gang, a former college honor student who was convicted of two shootings that left one man dead, was sentenced Friday to seven life terms in prison.

David Evangalista, 24, will not be eligible for parole for 125 years.

“He could have been a leader in the community,” Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp said before sentencing Evangalista. “Why his life went this way will always be a mystery. He had everything going for him.”

Evangalista is the first of seven members of the feared Van Nuys faction of the gang to be sentenced for a 1995 crime rampage that police said left 13 people dead. Authorities said the shootings, which targeted gang rivals as well as strangers, were part of a violent effort to become the most feared gang in Los Angeles County.

The gang was prosecuted for seven of those slayings, which included the ambush of a rival Latino gang on the lunar new year. Relying heavily on the testimony of two admitted gang members who turned state’s evidence, a Van Nuys jury convicted all of the defendants for their roles in all but one shooting.

Evangalista was found guilty for his role in two shootings July 23, 1995.

No one came to speak for or against Evangalista at Friday’s sentencing. His relatives did not attend, nor did his victims or their relatives.

Evangalista did not address the court. The Philippine native sat silently as his lawyer asked the judge to take into consideration his 4.0 grade-point average at Taft College, his volunteer work at a hospital in Queens, N.Y., and his look of remorse when the verdict was read.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Baird countered that while Evangalista may have had it all, he threw it away.

“He could have done anything with his life and he chose to become a gang member,” Baird said. “It is something that he chose to do and it is appalling because he had such potential.”

During the four-month trial, the father of the state’s key witness was gunned down at his San Jose home. Authorities later found the victim’s address in a jail-issued prayer book in Evangalista’s cell, listed under a phony name and phone number.