OC Gang Member Gets Plea Deal After Evidence Concerns
SANTA ANA (AP) — A gang member has taken a plea deal for the 2004 killing of a rival after an earlier conviction was set aside over concerns that prosecutors failed to share critical evidence with the defense.
City News Service reports Thursday that 34-year-old Leonel Vega pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the shooting death of 17-year-old Giovani Onofre.
His lawyer says he expects to be freed from prison in about four years.
Vega had previously been sentenced to life without parole for the killing.
His conviction was vacated last year after concerns arose over the use of jailhouse informants and the failure of Orange County prosecutors to disclose evidence to the defense in several high-profile cases including that of salon shooter Scott Dekraai.
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