Jonathan Gabriel Montejano was sentenced today to nine years in state prison for the June 19, 2010, stabbing death of Ryan Benjamin McPhee two years ago outside Benny's Q Street Bar and Grill in midtown.
Judge Tami R. Bogert imposed the term on Montejano, 28, after McPhee's family harshly criticized the plea bargain. In a deal approved in June, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office dropped murder charges on Montejano and allowed him to plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter.
Regina McPhee-Wade, the mother of the 23-year-old victim, said the agreement "trivialized" the death of her son as "as if he were trash."
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Greene said in court the plea deal was "appropriate and just." Green said McPhee's friends told investigators the victim had been flashing gang hand signs and claiming he was from Oak Park during the altercation with Montejano and members of his group in the bar.
The prosecutor said Benny's employees had asked McPhee to leave but that he hung around outside the bar at closing time, then brawled with Montejano and others on the sidewalk. During the fight, Montejano pulled out a hunting knife and stabbed McPhee as well as the bar bouncer who had tried to step between them.
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