3 Simi Men Get 1-Year Terms in Fatal Stabbing

Three Simi Valley men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the fatal stabbing at a Woodland Hills birthday party were sentenced to a year in jail, authorities said Thursday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp also sentenced Bryan Zoltan Dyer, Jose David Lucas and Frederick James Estrada, each 18, to five years’ probation, but dismissed residential burglary charges against the men over the prosecutor’s strong objection.

At the request of Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino, the judge also ordered the defendants to view an autopsy upon their release from jail.

“I’ve always believed that if people were required to actually see an autopsy and what their actions have wrought, they might be less prone to engage in acts of violence in the future,” D’Agostino said. “Hopefully such a viewing will have a sobering effect on the three young men.”

Three other men currently await trial on murder and attempted murder charges in the same incident. Michael Baker, Christopher Bryan Paonessa and Dino Ferrari Riggio were charged in the knifing of video store clerk Jason Shaw and his friend Daniel Parkison.

According to authorities, the incident began at about 11:30 p.m. March 1 after Shaw refused to hand over a balloon filled with nitrous oxide to Baker. It escalated after Baker was physically removed from the party. He vowed to return and “get even.”

Summoning 10 more people, Baker armed himself with a knife while others brought clubs and sticks, returning in the early morning hours of March 2, authorities said.

Shaw was stabbed twice in the heart and killed during a brief melee. After emergency surgery, Parkison survived his six stab wounds. “This was a tragic incident that has affected the lives of many young people and their parents,” D’Agostino said. “No one involved has emerged unscathed.”