VENTURA : Students See Man Get Life Sentence

As a class of eighth-graders watched, an 18-year-old Port Hueneme man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the attempted murder of a man he shot during a robbery attempt.

“If this keeps one kid on the straight and narrow, it’s worth it,” said Jim Earl, a teacher at Colina Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks who brought about 30 students to the courthouse.

The students saw Mario V. Banuelos sentenced for what Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones described as “conduct as vicious, callous and cruel as any I’ve been made aware of as a judge.”

According to trial testimony, Banuelos and another man, Ronald C. Apodaca, accosted two men Jan. 17 as they left an Oxnard Boulevard bar, stealing a gold chain from one of them. As the men fled, Banuelos pulled the trigger on the 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol he was carrying but the gun apparently jammed.

A few minutes later, Michael Hunter, 27, was driving slowly behind the same bar when Banuelos and Apodaca waved him to a stop and jumped into his car, according to court records. The two men asked for drugs. Hunter said he had none. A struggle for the gun ensued. When the slow-moving car struck another vehicle, Hunter fled.

Banuelos fired 11 times and hit Hunter five times, according to a probation report. Banuelos and Apodaca were arrested shortly afterward. Hunter recovered and testified against them at the trial.

In addition to the life sentence for the attempted first-degree murder, Banuelos received an additional 12 years and eight months for robbery, attempted robbery and use of a firearm during a crime. He will be eligible for parole in about 18 years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Simon said.

Apodaca was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and robbery. Jones sentenced him April 29 to 10 years and eight months in prison, the maximum possible. He will be up for parole after serving about half the sentence.