OXNARD : Boy Gets 6 Months in Fatal Shooting

A 14-year-old boy charged in connection with the slaying of a man in Oxnard has been sentenced to six months in a Ventura youth facility, authorities said Tuesday.

The boy earlier pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a loaded firearm in city limits. He was arrested in March in connection with the Jan. 27 shooting of Carlos Arthur Martinez, 29.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra Brewer said she declined to file murder charges because she could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the boy was not shooting to protect another teen-ager from Martinez.

Martinez apparently went to La Colonia in Oxnard to buy drugs, Brewer said. The 14-year-old boy was there but did not have any drugs to sell Martinez, Brewer said. Martinez then approached the other teen-ager and reached for a knife before the boy shot him, Brewer said.

Martinez was shot twice in the torso, Oxnard police said. He was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where he later died, authorities said.