STOCKTON - A 31-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in state prison for killing his former girlfriend whose charred remains were found last year in a field outside Stockton.

Luis Alonso Vega said nothing and stared straight ahead as San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber pronounced the sentence that could keep Vega in prison for the rest of his life for killing Jennifer Nicole Holland of Tracy.

Investigators believe Holland, 19, was shot at a Tracy home and driven to the field southwest of Stockton where her body was set on fire. Prosecutors presented no motive for the crime during the trial. Holland and Vega had a longtime relationship, and her blood was found in his car.

Jurors last month acquitted Vega's co-defendant Zackarie James Beck, 18, and Vega, who has a large tattoo across his forehead, was found guilty of second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Garber said he wished every schoolchild could have watched the trial and personally witnessed the real side of drug abuse. Illegal drugs have become a national epidemic and "virtually nothing" is being done to stop it, he said.

"There's no glamour. There's nothing positive," Garber said. "It's just a negative downward spiral, and, unfortunately, this one ended in tragedy."

Michelle Holland, the victim's mother, said during the hearing that her daughter was planning to begin a county drug treatment program the day she was killed. She never made it there, said Holland, who shook as she spoke.

"My daughter was beautiful and loving," she said and then cast her eyes to Vega. "My daughter loved everybody, even scumbags like that."

Vega's co-defendant Beck was tried for the murder as an adult; he was 17 at the time. No evidence connected him directly to the crime, his attorney said.

San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Lance Jacot outside court said that he hopes his former client Beck can leave behind the bad company he kept that landed him on trial and facing life in prison.

According to Jacot, Holland was murdered on a couch in Beck's Tracy home, but Beck was at work all day in a factory for custom motorcycle parts, Jacot said.

"Hopefully, Zack can turn his life around and get back on track," Jacot said.

Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com.

If you have been charged with murder you need an experienced attorney who has the expertise, dedication and tenacity to win your case.  Contact homicide attorney Lance Jacot of The Jacot Law Firm for a free consultation.

For the central valley office call- (209) 463-1800.

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