Teen Given 5 Years for Killing Friend

A teenager who accidentally shot a friend to death with a rifle was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison.

Justin Cox, 19, fatally shot Robert Villareal, 18, of Sun Valley, in August 1998 at the Granada Hills home of a mutual friend after a rifle Cox pulled out of a closet unexpectedly discharged.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, Cox pleaded no contest in March to charges of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a maximum sentence of five years.

Also as part of the deal, Superior Court Judge Shari K. Silver sent Cox to prison for a three-month diagnostic period during which Department of Corrections officials were asked to determine whether he merited a prison sentence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marlo Dickman said two of the three reviewers concluded that Cox, who was 17 at the time of the crime, should be imprisoned because he had repeatedly failed to meet conditions of probation in Juvenile Court in the past.

She said Cox has been getting into trouble since he was 10, the most serious charges against him being battery and making terrorist threats.

Silver agreed with the prison recommendation and on Friday sentenced Cox to the maximum agreed-upon sentence of five years.