Two men who admitted to fatally stabbing a Chula Vista man in 2012 have been sentenced to 18 and 13 years in prison respectively.
The 18-year term was handed down to Robert Rosales Jr., 33, by Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Ana Espana on March 3 for the Jan. 28, 2012, slaying of Charles Laux, 29.
Armando Garcia Jr., 26, received 13 years in prison. Both pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to voluntary manslaughter and a murder charge was dismissed. Deputy District Attorney Carlos Varela said both men will have to serve 85% of their sentence before they can be paroled.
Espana ordered both men to pay $5,000 to the crime victim’s compensation fund which paid for Laux’s funeral. Since they were arrested March 1, 2012, they will receive credits for the last three years spent in jail.
Varela said Rosales received 12 years for manslaughter plus five years for having another manslaughter conviction, and an additional year for the use of a knife in violent crime. The prosecutor said Garcia’s sentence includes a 10-year enhancement that he engaged in the crime to benefit a criminal street gang.
San Diego Police officers found Laux mortally wounded on the sidewalk in the 2200 block of Palm Avenue at 12:50 a.m.; he died at 1:15 a.m. near Chula Vista. Laux was stabbed multiple times near the Arco service station near Interstate 5 and didn’t know his attackers.
Espana was the judge in the preliminary hearing in December 2012 who heard from 11 witnesses before ordering them to stand trial for murder with gang allegations.
Rosales’s sentence is longer because he has a prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter from May 2003. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
