OCEANSIDE — A 32-year-old man will spend the majority of the next decade in prison for his role in a gang-related shooting five years ago.
A San Diego Superior Court judge sentenced Patrick Lashawn Johnson to 10 years in prison relating to a plea deal in which he admitted to driving the two convicted killers to the crime scene as well as scouting the area prior to the shooting.
Two of Johnson’s fellow gang members were convicted in November of murdering Joaquin Pruitt, 18, and the attempted murder of then 19-year-old Sean Oates. Additionally, the jury found true gang and gun allegations.
On Dec. 3, Michael Linnan, a fourth suspect and gang member, was sentenced for being an accessory after the fact, because he lent the trio his car for the crime.
Prosecutors alleged Situe Toluao and Peni Siulua, both now 26, opened fire on the two teenagers as they and several other friends got into Pruitt’s light blue Cadillac in Oceanside’s Mesa Margarita neighborhood on June 28, 2005.
Neither Pruitt nor Oates were gang members.
The duo faces 50 years to life in prison. Their sentencing date was set for Jan. 27.
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