SENTENCES UPHELD IN GANG MEMBER'S MURDER.

Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer

Five gang members convicted in the January 2002 stabbing and beating death of a rival in Canyon Country lost their appeals this week.

A three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the claims late Tuesday that court rulings and instructions regarding accomplice, alibi, gang and ``heat of passion'' and ``provocation'' evidence were erroneous.

In addition, defendant Mario Aguillon, who was 14 at the time of the crime, claimed that his sentence of 25 years to life amounted to cruel and unusual punishment because of his age and that there was an error in the abstract of judgment issued by the court.

Aguillon, Randy Franco, Katherine Mary Henson, Alfredo Hernandez and John Romero were convicted in August 2003 of murdering 19-year-old Byron Benito, a member of the Newhall gang.

Franco, Henson, Hernandez and Romero are serving life sentences without possibility of parole and Aguillon is serving a sentence of 25 years to life. All five were members of the Brown Familia gang.

Benito's body was found Jan. 16, 2002, against a curb on Golden Bush Way in the Greenbrier East Mobile Home Park. It was determined that he was lured to an industrial area adjacent to the park by a large group of people, where he was beaten and stabbed 33 times.

The justices affirmed the judgments of Franco, Henson, Hernandez and Romero and remanded Aguillon's judgment to a trial court to correct an paperwork error. All five remain behind bars.

Benito's murder came one day after the body of Victor Flores, 19, of Piru, was found in a dry creek bed under Sierra Highway. Flores, who belonged to the same gang as the defendants, had been shot to death.

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

[phone]