4 YOUNG MEN GET PRISON IN SLAYING LANCASTER BOY, 16, WAS SHOT AT POOL HALL.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO

Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Four young men have been sentenced to nearly 20 years each in prison for the August 2005 slaying of a 16-year-old Lancaster boy who was shot and killed while playing pool with family and friends.

"It's a substantial sentence for fighters in a gang fight that resulted in the death of the victim," Deputy District Attorney Benny Osorio said Thursday. "We are taking the shooter to trial."

Osorio said the victim's mother made a statement to the court during Wednesday's sentencing hearing.

"She said her son died on her birthday. Every time she celebrates her birthday, she will have that in her mind," he said.

Six defendants were charged in the case, five of whom pleaded no contest or guilty to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors agreed to dismiss a murder charge. The alleged shooter, 18-year-old Joseph Armondo Bonilla, is awaiting trial.

"He's the shooter," Osorio said. "He's not going to get any offers less than life."

Alfredo Briano was shot Aug.12,2005, at Vaughn's Billiards in the 2000 block of East Palmdale Boulevard after he and his companions were confronted by gang-member suspects who walked into the pool hall.

Rudy Albert Fernandez, 19, Filiberto Ocobachi, 19, and Oscar Bonilla, 17, were each sentenced Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court to 18 years in prison. Guillermo "Scooby" Huerta, 28, was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in prison.

Huerta received an additional year because he had previously served time in prison.

Erik Munoz Perez, 25, faces 18 years when he is sentenced in June.

Sheriff's detectives said Briano and his companions had been playing pool and minding their own business when a group of two females and six males walked into the pool hall and challenged them about their gang association.

The boy and the others denied being gang members, investigators said. A fight broke out, and one of the assailants pulled out a gun and shot the boy.

After the shooting, witnesses told deputies, as many as five people got into a black sport-utility vehicle and sped off. Deputies spotted an SUV matching the description and chased it until it stopped near AvenueQ and Fourth Street East.

A gun believed to have been used in the slaying was found in weeds on a dirt road behind an apartment building, along the route that the pursuit took.

Briano's parents in March filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Joseph Bonilla and the pool hall.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

[phone]