19-Year-Old Man Who Fatally Shot Silver Lake Pizza Guy Gets 77 Years to Life

19-year-old Jose Beltran, the man convicted of fatally shooting Silver Lake pizza deliveryman Juan David Vasquez Loma in 2011, has been sentenced to 77 years to life in prison.Beltran's motion for a new trial was denied Friday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clifford L. Klein, who saw to it his sentence would keep the killer behind bars until he is at least 97 years old, according to City News Service.

"Whether he gets parole at (age) 97, that will be up to the parole board," the judge said.

Loma was shot once in the head by Beltran as the two men drove in separate cars on Silver Lake Boulevard on August 7, 2011, in what is being called a "road rage attack."

The shooter drove up alongside Loma, who was driving co-workers home from one of his two area jobs he held in order to support his family in his native Mexico. Beltran fired at Loma, striking him in the head. The victim was pronounced brain dead, then subsequently removed from life support, while hospitalized.

Loma worked at Garage Pizza and El Chavo.

Kevin Ramsey, who managed the pizza shop where Loma worked, described the victim as a man who would "come to the store literally singing," work 12-hour shifts and leave singing. He called the crime "the act of a boy, not a man, a coward."

Beltran, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was also found guilty of attempted murder for firing at the two co-workers who were in the car with Loma, but who were not struck.

Today, Beltran's attorney, Simon M. Aval, told the judge his client intended to appeal the case.