Two gang members have been sentenced to up to life in prison for murdering a 19-year-old Marine who was found shot to death in his car in the South Los Angeles while on leave from Camp Pendleton, prosecutors said Monday.
Oscar Aguilar, 28, received a sentence of 100 years to life in prison, while 31-year-old Esau Rios was sentenced to 50 years to life, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Both men were found guilty in May of first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of Lance Cpl. Carlos Segovia Lopez.
The two defendants were also convicted of shooting at an occupied vehicle, while Aguilar was further found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Additionally, jurors found true multiple allegations against Aguilar, including that he used a handgun in the killing, and that the shooting was for the benefit for a criminal street gang, according to the DA’s office.
On the night of Sept. 16, 2016, Segovia Lopez was visiting his girlfriend at her home Jefferson Park when he noticed the two defendants possibly tampering with his vehicle, investigators said.
Segovia Lopez confronted them and, according to family members, asked them to get away from his vehicle.
Aguilar approached the Marine as he was sitting in his car on 31st Street and St. Andrews Place and shot him once in the head, at the direction of Rios, according to court testimony.
Segovia was declared brain dead and died three days later.
A third defendant, 21-year-old Ricky Valente, pleaded no contest to a count of being accessory after the fact, according to the DA’s office. He received three years’ formal probation under a plea deal reached two months ago.
All three defendants lived in Jefferson Park. The victim was also from L.A.
Aguilar and Rios were each known gang members, according to court testimony.
Aguilar had a criminal record dating back to 2008, when he was convicted as a juvenile of assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism, according to prosecutors.
He was also found guilty of criminal threats in 2011, and possession for transportation or sale of narcotics in 2015.
