sentenced Daniel Flores, an Oxnard gang member, to life without parole for the February 2008 murder of Armando Sepulveda, prompting Flores' lawyer to immediately file a notice of appeal.

Last month, a jury found Flores guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for shooting and wounding a father and son from El Rio in an incident a month before the Sepulveda shooting. Jurors found true that these crimes were done for the benefit of a criminal gang and that a weapon was used.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy also sentenced Flores, 24, to the maximum sentence prescribed by law for the two attempted murders, 75 years to life. The judge gave Flores a 38-year sentence for the special allegations that he was a gang member and used a weapon in the commission of a crime.

Flores and two other Colonia Chiques gang members, Brandon Arauz and Jose Velasquez, spotted Sepulveda in front of his house using his cellphone on Feb. 4, 2008, court testimony showed. Flores and Arauz, who were dressed in El Rio gang attire, stopped the car three houses away and walked toward Sepulveda. Prosecutors said Flores introduced himself to Sepulveda as an El Rio gang member before Sepulveda was shot by Arauz.

Arauz was not charged with the murder, but is in prison for 64 years to life on two other unrelated shootings. Velasquez's trial is pending.

Prosecutor Rameen Minoui said in an interview that Flores is a very serious threat and danger to society, adding that the lengthy prison sentences mean he will no longer be able to inflict harm or cause further pain to the victims' families. Minoui said Sepulveda wasn't a gang member and Flores, Velasquez and Arauz didn't know anyone in the Sepulveda family.

Flores' lawyers Jay Tanenbaum and Matthew Selmer said they filed a notice of appeal Monday alleging that a jailhouse informant secretly recorded conversations with their client and Velasquez.

Flores bragged to a jailhouse confidential informant, who said he was associated with the Mexican Mafia, about killing Sepulveda and shooting two other people, according to the recordings played to jurors. Flores denied to the informant that the two shootings were drive-by shootings.

The Mexican Mafia issued an edict to Southern California street gangs against drive-by shootings because innocent people sometimes get killed, resulting in police crackdowns that disrupt its drug trafficking, according to law enforcement.

Tanenbaum said Flores said all these things to the informant because he was afraid Mexican Mafia members would kill him if they believed he participated in drive-by shootings.

Selmer said the informant has earned $250,000 from the FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and $25,000 from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department for secretly recording jail conversations with defendants.

Selmer said the informant is simply an arm of law enforcement who also has worked off a total of 15 years from his jail sentences.