*CRIMINAL CASE UPDATE*

MAN SENTENCED IN MURDER OF MAN WITH A BAYONET OUTSIDE A LAKE ELSINORE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT

MURRIETA - A Corona man was sentenced Friday, July 31, 2009, for the 2007 murder of a man with a bayonet outside a Lake Elsinore fast food restaurant.

George Michael Acuna, 35, was convicted on April 14, 2009, of murdering Shane Elijah MacLachlan of Lake Elsinore on June 15, 2007.

On Friday, Judge F. Paul Dickerson sentenced Acuna to 26 years to life in state prison.

The night of the murder, Lake Elsinore police found MacLachlan, 29, with a stab wound in his back as he lay on the ground in the drive-thru area of the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Riverside Drive. The weapon used to murder him, a bayonet, was found nearby.

Before his murder, the victim confronted Acuna because he believed Acuna had been harassing some homeless men outside a laundromat next to the KFC. An argument ensued during which Acuna stabbed the victim, killing him.

Fingerprints on a beer can found at the murder scene matched those of Acuna and a witness provided police with license plate information that closely matched a vehicle belonging to Acuna. Investigators went to Acuna's home and spoke to the defendant's children who identified the bayonet's sheath and one child said the sheath was last seen in Acuna's truck.

The case, SWF022703, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Chirco.