It took a jury in September less than an hour to convict Ramon Diaz of murdering 13-year-old Rodrigo Valle after the pair stared one another down near Santa Ana High School in September 2008.
Last week, Oscar Hernandez, the 24-year-old who essentially served as Diaz's lookout man and backup muscle, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the murder.
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Hernandez pleaded guilty to use of a gun in June and voluntary manslaughter
in September to spare himself a trial on a murder charge.
He was looking out for Diaz, who was just shy of 17 at the time he stared down eighth grader Valle, pulled out a gun and shot the fleeing Valle in the back, killing him. Police believe they were members of rival gangs.
Tried as an adult, Diaz was convicted of murder and street terrorism, and he faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility
of parole at his sentencing scheduled for December in Santa Ana.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.