Canyon Country man sentenced to 15 years to life for killing father
A 32-year-old Latino who shot his father in the head in Canyon Country was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in state prison in the 2013 killing, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Juan Alexander Mejia pleaded no contest April 14 to one count of second-degree murder.
Prosecutors said that on May 17, 2013, Mejia came home drunk, kicked open the garage door where his father usually slept and fatally shot his 53-year-old Juan Cruz Mejia.
The elder Mejia slept inside his garage with the door locked because of previous violent outbursts by his son, according to court testimony.
The defendant admitted pointing the gun at his father but claimed to have fired it by accident. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives testified that the defendant fled the scene after the shooting and buried his weapon in a riverbed.
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