Judge Hands Down Maximum Sentence in Deadly Gym Barbell Beating

By Bay City News Service:

REDWOOD CITY, CA- In an emotional hearing this week, a man who expressed remorse for beating another man to death with a weight bar at a South San Francisco gym in 2014 was handed the maximum sentence of 17 years to life in prison, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

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• 'Roid Rage': Peninsula Gym-goer's Juicing Blamed for Fatal Barbell Beating

Kenneth Osako, 47, pleaded no contest in March to second-degree murder for hitting 44-year-old Diego Galindo, in the gym locker room in Bally Total Fitness at 180 El Camino Real at about 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2014.

Osako approached Galindo from behind, struck him three or four times with an 18-inch metal bar used to hold weights, and fled the area, prosecutors said.

Galindo's friends and family, including his two brothers and his girlfriend, packed the courtroom of Judge John Grandsaert today and spoke on the pain Osako caused them by killing Galindo, a popular butcher at Carniceria Tepa on Linden Avenue.

Osako expressed remorse for the killing, but given the pain it caused the grieving family, Gradsaert sentenced him to the maximum sentence of 17 years to life in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $20,000 in restitution, Wagstaffe said.

Prosecutors had said Osako killed Galindo in a dispute over a woman, and that he had made a joking request to Osako's girlfriend to take a ride on his motorcycle a day prior to the attack.

But after his no contest plea in March, defense attorney Steven Chase said Osako had been taking steroids prior to the killing and a comment from Galindo sent him into a "roid rage." Chase said Osako didn't understand what Galindo said to him because he spoke in Spanish, but he understood the word "fight." When he hit Galindo with the bar, Osako didn't mean to kill him, Chase said. Now that he's off drugs, Galindo feels horrible about killing Osako, according to Chase.

(Image via Shutterstock)