Man Gets 16 Years to Life for Murder
A 21-year-old Oxnard gang member has received a sentence of 16 years to life in prison for beating a rival gang member to death in September 1996.
Erik Marceleno and co-defendant Francisco Soto, 23, were convicted of murder in April after a lengthy trial in Ventura County Superior Court. The jury also found Marceleno had used a deadly weapon in the assault on 17-year-old Luis Gerardo Rodriguez.
A senior at Channel Islands High School, Rodriguez was beaten about the head on Sept. 20, 1996. Although five men are believed to have been present at the time of the beating, prosecutors charged only Soto and Marceleno with murder.
Authorities say Soto hit and kicked Rodriguez, while Marceleno struck the teen repeatedly with a metal automotive anti-theft device.
Rodriguez was found injured in the 1200 block of Sierra Place in Oxnard. He was hospitalized and died several hours later.
Sentencing for the two men, both members of an Oxnard gang, was postponed several weeks while Marceleno’s defense attorney sought a new trial. That request was denied. Soto is expected to be sentenced Oct. 13.
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