The Ontario Christian High student charged with five counts of attempted murder after he obsessively researched school shootings and posed for selfies with his father’s rifles will plead guilty to a single, different felony charge, his attorney said Friday, May 24.
Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor will admit to one count of witness intimidation, a felony, attorney Daniel DeLimon said. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office approved of the plea deal, DeLimon said. District Attorney Jason Anderson declined to comment Friday.
Although the crime carries a penalty of two to four years in prison, DeLimon said he hopes the sentence will amount to the time already served in jail, plus probation that would include mental health treatment.
The hearing is scheduled for May 30 in Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga. Villaseñor has so far pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The victim, DeLimon said, is Villaseñor’s 15-year-old sister. She testified at the preliminary hearing that she and her brother argued in the school parking lot about a girl who Villaseñor didn’t like. He told her to “Shut up” and clenched his fist at her. In retaliation, she testified, she told school administrators about her brother’s obsession and that he took the photos of himself with the rifles in their Eastvale home. That sparked the investigation.
In a twist, a charge of attempted criminal threats that had been filed because of Villaseñor’s actions toward his sister was dropped at the preliminary hearing.
Ontario police and the District Attorney’s Office have said they believe Villaseñor, 18, planned to kill five classmates who snubbed his attempts to befriend or date them.
Anderson on Friday also declined to comment on by the father of one of the alleged attempted murder victims that the plea deal is “an abomination.”
that an ideal plea agreement would result in probation and mental health treatment for Villaseñor, who those close to him believe is autistic, according to testimony.
DeLimon previously said that required his client to admit to a crime he did not commit. Villaseñor was bound over for trial on the attempted murder charges even though testimony at the preliminary hearing revealed that he never pointed a gun at anyone.
DeLimon argued that Villaseñor’s statements to investigators about a plot were made in answer to theoretical questions such as “If you were going to shoot up the school, how would you do it?” and “If you were going to shoot someone, who would it be?”
Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus successfully argued to the judge who held Villaseñor for trial that his research — including police response times and what kind of bullet could pierce a police officer’s protective vest — amounted to a “next step” required to prove attempted murder.
