| For Immediate Release Case # 11CF1837
January 20, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN CONVICTED AND SENTENCED FOR PUNCHING AND KILLING 24-YEAR-OLD BAR PATRON
*Victim was on life support for approximately two weeks before he died from his injury
SANTA ANA – A man was convicted and sentenced today for punching and killing a 24-year-old bar patron. Oscar Raul Medina-Perez, 24, Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to one felony count of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail and three years of informal probation. Medina-Perez is expected to be deported back to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after completing his jail time.
On the night of July 5, 2011, Medina-Perez was at La Barca Night Club in Stanton. The victim, 24-year-old Leovardo Vera Bustos, was also at the bar with his cousin. Medina-Perez engaged the victim in a verbal argument while standing in front of the night club, with a security guard standing between them. The defendant then escalated the verbal argument and punched Bustos once in the face. The victim immediately fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
Bustos was taken home and never regained consciousness. On the morning of July 6, 2011, the victim was found in bed unresponsive with blood coming from his nose. He was transported to University of California, Irvine Medical Center in Orange and placed on life support. Bustos died approximately two weeks later after being taken off life support.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.
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