A man who beat another man to death at an Oceanside apartment last year in an attack that included pouring boiling water onto the victim was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in state prison.
Michael Charles Newton, 67, pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, assault and false imprisonment for the June 5, 2019 killing of 41-year-old Joshua Saiger. The manslaughter count came with allegations that a broom, metal pan, and wooden cutting board were used in the killing.
Saiger’s body was found just before noon the following day in an apartment at 3229 Mission Cove Way, Oceanside Police spokesman Tom Bussey said.
Prosecutors said the apartment was Newton’s, and Saiger had been staying with him. Newton, who was previously charged with murder in the case, was arrested shortly after questioning from investigators.
Police and prosecutors did not disclose a motive for the slaying.
At Newton’s sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Ocampo read statements from Saiger’s aunt, Patricia Caesar, and sister, Aimee Saiger.
Caesar said she raised the victim “from the age of 13 until he was murdered at the age of 41.”
She said her nephew was kind, smart and naturally musically talented, but also had a hard life, mental health issues, and ended up homeless because in his words, “He liked living off the grid.”
Caesar said Saiger had an equally tough death, saying that Newton chose to pour boiling water over Saiger’s chest, in addition to “other savage acts.”
The victim’s older sister, Aimee, said her brother was “very loving and kind-hearted.”
She told Newton, “I hate that you were the last person to see him alive” and “By brutally killing my baby brother, you took away the only living member of my original, nuclear family and my daughter’s favorite uncle.”
–City News Service