Man sentenced to 61 years to life in prison for 2007 Pomona murder
A man convicted of shooting and killing 48-year-old Larry Dean Hunnicutt in a Pomona alley last year was sentenced Wednesday to 61 years to life in prison.
Armando James Barela, 34, was convicted Oct. 17 at the conclusion of a four-day trial in Pomona Superior Court.
It took jurors only three hours of deliberations to reach a guilty verdict, said Deputy District Attorney Hubert Yun.
Hunnicutt was shot three times on Sept. 13, 2007 at about 11:45 a.m. in an alley behind the 200 block of East Monterey Avenue, Yun said.
A nearby resident heard the gunshots and saw a man matching Barela's description standing over Hunnicutt's body, Yun said.
The resident tried to chase the shooter, but the shooter successfully fled on a mountain bike, Yun said.
When police arrived at the scene of the shooting, the witness described the shooter's clothing and mountain bike.
Police found Barela nearby wearing dark-blue pants and a light-blue shirt -- clothing described by the witness.
Barela also had a mountain bike that matched the witness' description.
The most damning piece of evidence against Barela was a gun found in the wheel-well of a car parked only a few feet from where Barela was arrested.
Ballistics tests of the gun linked the weapon to shell casings found in the alley and to a bullet recovered from Hunnicutt's body, Yun said.
Yun said there was no known motive for the shooting. He said Pomona police detectives tried but failed to find any link between the two men.
"Their leads took them nowhere," Yun said. "They couldn't find anyone that could link the two together."
Yun said Barela declined to speak to police after his arrest.
Yun speculated that the shooting could have been prompted by a dispute related to drugs. The alley where the shooting occurred was known as a spot for drug dealing, Yun said.
After Hunnicutt was shot, the only thing he said to paramedics or others at the scene was something about "Becky's boyfriend" being responsible for the shooting, Yun said.
At Barela's trial, his defense attorney argued that Barela was misidentified by the witness and police, Yun said.
The only witness called by the defense in the trial was a woman who said she was Barela's girlfriend. She testified that she did not go by the name Becky, Yun said.
Barela was convicted of second-degree murder, which carries a prison sentence of 15 years to life.
The sentence for that count was doubled to 30 years to life because Barlea has a prior strike conviction for aggravated assault, said Kent Thomas, Barela's attorney.
An additional 25 years to life was tacked on to Barlea's sentence for use of a gun in the commission of the murder, Yun said.
Five additional years were added for use of a gun by a felon, and one more year was added because of Barela's prior conviction, Yun said.
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