teenager who at age 14 was the youngest person ever charged as an adult in San Mateo County was sentenced Friday to 43 years in prison

teenager who at age 14 was the youngest person ever charged as an adult in San Mateo County was sentenced Friday to 43 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitting that he had tried to scare witnesses in his case, a prosecutor said.

Josue Raul Orozco, now 20, entered his pleas in San Mateo County Superior Court in connection with the 2005 slaying of rival gang member 21-year-old Francisco Rodriguez, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti.

Orozco pleaded guilty to nine counts of witness intimidation for telling fellow gang members from jail to scare witnesses who were supposed to testify in his murder case, which ended in a mistrial.

Orozco had originally been charged with murder in the slaying of Rodriguez outside the victim's Redwood City home on July 12, 2005. Orozco, an alleged Sureños gang member, denied he was the shooter.