Defendant in O.C. Killing Admits to Manslaughter

LAGUNA NIGUEL —  Prosecutors won a victory Tuesday--a first--against one of six defendants in the killing of San Clemente teen-ager Steve Woods, who was speared through the head with paint roller rod in a crime that provoked community outrage over the spread of gang violence.

Arturo Villalobos, 19, of San Clemente pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and a gang-involvement sentencing enhancement in connection with the Oct. 15 attack at Calafia County Beach Park that resulted in the 17-year-old’s death three weeks later.

In exchange for his plea during a brief, closed proceeding here before Municipal Judge Pamela Iles, officials dismissed a murder count and multiple counts of assault that were initially filed against the defendant.

Villalobos faces a state prison term of four to 14 years and remains in custody on $250,000 bail. A sentencing hearing was set for Jan. 25 in Orange County Superior Court, although it may be several more months before sentence is passed, officials said.

The victim’s mother and sister expressed neither joy nor disappointment regarding the plea, the first guilty plea or conviction in the case.

“I think he should get life,” said the victim’s sister, Shellie Woods, who was in court. “I think they should all get life.”

Kathy Woods, the mother, said she will pay especially close attention to a hearing today to determine whether four juveniles charged with murder and assault in the case will be tried as adults.

“I will be very disappointed if they are not tried as adults,” Kathy Woods said. “They didn’t exactly throw pencils and crayons and lunch boxes. . . . We’re not dealing with children.”

The sixth defendant, 20-year-old Juan Enriquez Alcocer, was ordered last month to stand trial in Superior Court on all charges filed against him: one count of murder, 10 counts of felony assault, one felony count of throwing an object at a moving vehicle and a gang-involvement enhancement.

Woods was among 10 friends in three vehicles who were pelted with rocks, beer cans and paint rollers by a group of 10 to 15 youths as they tried to drive away from a confrontation with the group at the San Clemente beach, according to testimony and police reports. Woods and his friends had gone to the beach after a San Clemente High School football game.

Amid the breaking of car windows, Woods, who was a passenger in the first vehicle to leave the parking lot, was somehow speared through the head with the metal rod of a paint roller.

The senior at San Clemente High School fell into a coma and died Nov. 9, never having regained consciousness.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer said he was pleased with the plea agreement. He said the evidence he could have admitted in court against Villalobos supported voluntary manslaughter rather than the murder charge.

Other defendants in the case, all alleged members or associates of a San Clemente gang, still face murder charges, he stressed.

“Each case rests on its own merits,” he said. “It’s a different story with some of these other guys.”

Paer said he could not comment on who may have actually thrown the paint roller rod that pierced Woods’ brain.

In police reports, Villalobos admits to throwing a paint roller, but not at the vehicle that was carrying Woods. Two other paint rollers were found at the scene, according to court documents.

Defense attorney Michael J. Naughton couldn’t be reached for comment after the court proceedings.

In previous court testimony, Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators said an innocent question by a friend of Woods about some parties in San Juan Capistrano may have sparked the fatal confrontation.

As the friend left the gathering to take two other people home, he pulled up alongside a pickup carrying several of the suspects. Thinking the pickup belonged to someone he knew from San Juan Capistrano, the friend called out to the truck, asking the occupants if they knew of any parties in San Juan Capistrano, according to testimony.

But the pickup did not belong to his friend and the question provoked a hostile response, with one of the suspects punching Woods’ friend in the face, a detective testified.

The friend immediately went back to the gathering and told everyone to leave because there was trouble. As they prepared to go, several teens told police they saw a group of youths walking toward them, armed with a tennis racket and chains, according to testimony.

The pickup truck containing paint rollers belonged to one of the suspects’ fathers, who is a painter.

Just the mention of San Juan Capistrano to the suspected San Clemente gang members could have provoked a violent response, a sheriff’s gang expert testified. The San Clemente gang has a long, sometimes violent rivalry with a gang in San Juan Capistrano.

Lawyers for the juvenile suspects have said the injuries to Woods were the result of a “freak accident” and their clients never intended to kill anyone.

All the suspects remain in custody.