A man who stabbed a 19-year-old man to death in National City in 2005 was sentenced Nov. 19 to 22 years in state prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in funeral costs.
Family members of Luis Vasquez were present at the sentencing of Anthony Raymond Rivers, now 31, but they did not speak.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Eacret said in court that Vasquez’s mother wanted Rivers to know that she had forgiven him despite the huge loss to her family.
Rivers pleaded guilty Oct. 9 to voluntary manslaughter along with enhancements that said he committed the crime to benefit a gang and that he personally used the knife.
Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney imposed 11 years for manslaughter, 10 years for the gang enhancement, and one year for using the knife to equal 22 years.
A murder charge was dismissed. Rivers was given credit of previously serving a year and three months since his arrest at his La Mesa home on Aug. 30, 2017.
On Nov. 9, co-defendant Jorge Ibarra, now 32, was sentenced to five years in prison. Ibarra pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter and two assault charges.
Ibarra was arrested on Jan. 25, 2017, and he was also given credit for serving 1 1/2 years in jail before sentencing.
In 2005, police arrested David Hurtado, who is also known as Jose Hernandez, and he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while committing the crime to benefit a street gang. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison and he has since been paroled.
The $5,000 restitution order for Rivers by Devaney specified that his payment joins the same restitution orders given to Ibarra and Hurtado that they also share costs of the funeral expenses, said Eacret.
The incident occurred April 10, 2005 when Vasquez and his brother, Marvin Castrellon, then 25, went to a store in the 200 block of Highland Avenue to buy items for a barbecue.
