SANTA ROSA (BCN) -- The fourth and final defendant indicted in connection with a May 1998 gang-related murder pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in Sonoma County Superior Court Wednesday morning.

Ambrosio Vigil, 30, faces 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 14th. Vigil admitted that the murder of 23-year-old Juan Carlos Ramirez on May 6, 1998, was in furtherance of a street gang and that he used a rock in the killing.

Sonoma County Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert LaForge said Vigil faces only 15 years in prison because of sentencing laws that were in effect when the crime was committed.

Convictions for gang-related offenses and weapons enhancements now carry substantially longer sentences.

The 2003 indictment alleged that Vigil and three other men chased Ramirez into an alley and stabbed him near Railroad Square in Santa Rosa.

Vigil is out of custody. His attorney George Boisseau said he expects the sentencing to last two or three hours because he intends to present information about Vigil's good conduct over the past eight years.

Among the others indicted, Tony John James, 32, of Santa Rosa, was convicted after a trial for gang-related murder with the use of a screwdriver or knife and was sentenced in August 2006 to 25 years to life in prison.

Carlos Raul Alvarez, 31, of Healdsburg, pleaded no contest to gang-related voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in August 2006 to 10 years in prison.

Gabriel Jose Miranda, 29, pleaded no contest to being an accessory and was sentenced in June 2008 to three years' probation.     

(Copyright 2009, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)