GANG MEMBER GUILTY OF MURDER.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY- The third of 18 suspected gang members charged with killing a Canyon Country teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder.

Jorge Manrique, 19, will serve life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the Jan. 16, 2002, death of 19-year-old Byron Benito.

Nearly five weeks ago, brothers Jose Jimenez, 17, and John Jimenez, 15, pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges. Under their agreement with prosecutors, they each will serve 16 years in state prison.

``Manrique is more culpable because he's more entrenched in the gang and was an adult at the time rather than a juvenile,'' said Deputy District Attorney John Colello, explaining the longer jail term agreement. ``He participated in the actual physical attack by throwing punches.''

In fact, Manrique was stabbed in the back during the melee by one of the other defendants, Colello said.

All the defendants are charged with fatally stabbing and beating Benito in a darkened parking lot in Canyon Country. The killing was in retaliation for the fatal shooting of a gang member a day earlier, prosecutors said.

Eight adults have pleaded not guilty in the case, investigators said. Their trial is scheduled to begin in May in Los Angeles Superior Court.