A 19-year-old Chula Vista man was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison for murder and his friend received 25 years for shooting an El Cajon man to death in 2014.
Both Homero Viscarra Palomino, 19, of Chula Vista, and Paul Julian Sosa III, 20, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Sept. 18, 2014 shooting death of John Milton Francis, 38.
El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Lamborn added 10 years to Sosa’s term because he personally used a firearm in the shooting. Francis was robbed of his marijuana in El Cajon and did not know his killers.
Lamborn ordered both men to pay approximately $17,000 in funeral and other related expenses as a relative had to fly here from Japan. All courtroom seats were filled with the victim’s family, friends, and others.
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Ryan read letters from the victim’s sister and aunt into the record. Lamborn gave them credit for serving approximately 500 days in jail.
