A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday and was immediately sentenced to 11 years in prison for his part in the ambush killing of a man who was stabbed to death near Trabuco Creek in San Juan Capistrano nearly five years ago.
Ryan Timothy Huebner of Laguna Niguel pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, as well as a felony residential burglary charge from a separate unrelated case. As part of the plea bargain, a murder charge with a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait was dropped.
Huebner was given credit for 2,004 days in jail and must serve 85% of the remainder of his sentence.
Myles Emmanuel Jones, 27, of Laguna Hills pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 2019, to voluntary manslaughter. He is set to be sentenced Aug. 20, when four other defendants are scheduled to go on trial.
Jones, who faces 11 years in prison, is expected to have his murder charge dismissed after testifying in the trial. It is not certain whether he will be compelled to testify, his attorney Doug Myers said when his client entered his plea.
The other defendants are Ashkan Dezhangfard, 27, of San Juan Capistrano, Siavish Hosseinaliarhani, 23, of Laguna Niguel, Anjelica Marie Shibata, 32, of San Juan Capistrano, and Brion Cairo Hyde, 26, of San Juan Capistrano.
They are due in court for a pretrial hearing on July 23 and are all charged with murder with a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait, making them eligible for at least life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Shibata and Hyde were living together as a couple in San Juan Capistrano, but Shibata was also romantically involved with Alvaro Rios when the 38-year-old married father was killed, authorities said.
Shibata allegedly asked Rios to meet her in a remote area near a bike path in San Juan Capistrano in the early morning of July 12, 2016. All of the defendants were allegedly there when Rios was attacked and left for dead. A jogger found the body the next day and called the sheriff’s department.
When Rios’ wife found out about the affair, she started posting negative comments about Shibata on Facebook, Myers said.
Investigators suspect Shibata told Hyde that Rios had raped her, and then the two told the others about the alleged sexual assault, which led to the alleged ambush, the defense attorney said.
Myers alleged that two of the defendants brought knives to the planned beating and attacked the victim, but it is unclear which defendant dealt the fatal wound.
It’s not clear if the rape allegation is true or not, Myers said.