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Man extradited from Mexico gets 25 years for 1998 Ventura murder
A Los Angeles man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for a 1998 murder in Ventura, according to Ventura County Superior Court records. Manuel Alejandro Vasquez pleaded guilty Sept. 30 to one count of first-degree murder in the death of Felipe Arambula, court records indicate. His sentencing hearing was Nov. 2. Vasquez is the third person convicted since Arambula was shot and killed in his Ventura home on June 13, 1998. “Despite waiting nearly 30 years for justice, the victim’s family never wavered in their belief that one day all the men responsible for the victim’s murder would be successfully prosecuted,” Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick wrote in a news release. At the time of the murder, Ventura Police Department investigators determined that Vasquez and David Hampton were hired by a man named Jose Vazquez to kidnap and extort money from Arambula over an alleged unpaid debt, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. During the confrontation, Hampton fatally shot Arambula. Hampton and Jose Vazquez were convicted of murder in 1999 and both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said Vasquez fled to Mexico before the DA's office