OROVILLE, Calif. - A 23-year-old gang member will serve three consecutive life terms in prison for a 2004 shooting that left a teenager dead and his father permanently paralyzed.
Butte County Judge Stephen Benson on Wednesday called Santos Zepeda's actions callous and told the young man he would be 90 years old before he would be eligible for parole.

Zepeda, of Chico, was convicted in October of premeditated, first-degree gang murder and attempted murder.
During the trial, the prosecution argued that Zepeda shot the two victims, 17-year-old Robert Gonzalez Jr. and his father Robert Gonzalez Sr.

, solely to gain respect from fellow gang members.
A witness testified that when he opened fire on them at a party, Zepeda believed the father and son were members of a rival gang. The teenager died at the scene and his father remains in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet that severed his spine.

Before announcing Zepeda's sentence, the judge denied a defense motion for a new trial. Stephen King, Zepeda's lawyer, had argued that the prosecution's repeated references to Zepeda's gang ties prejudiced the jury and led to his conviction.
As well as the three life sentences, Zepeda was also sentenced to nine years for attempted murder and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

In a video message to the court Wednesday, the murdered teen's mother called Zepeda a parasite to humanity and every mother's worst nightmare.
REDDING, Calif. (AP) - Shasta County sheriff's deputies on Thursday were investigating the apparent suicide of a county jail inmate accused of murder.

An officer conducting routine cell checks discovered James Hesson's body just after 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Officers and the jail's nursing staff administered CPR, but they said the 37-year-old former bricklayer could not be resuscitated.
An initial investigation Wednesday determined Hesson likely strangled himself with bed linens, Redding police Sgt. Scott Mayberry said.

He left behind a note asking jailers to notify his mother of his death, said sheriff's Lt. Mike Ashmun.
Hesson had been in jail since the April 30 shooting of a Redding man during an alleged dispute over a weed trimmer.

He had not shown signs he might try to harm himself, Ashmun said.