By Bay City News Service
A man charged with the stabbing death of a teenager at a Millbrae high school in August 2010 pleaded no contest to the murder in San Mateo County Superior Court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Laungatasi Ahio, 23, of Millbrae, surrendered the day after 19-year-old Jared Afu was found dead of multiple stab wounds to his face and neck near the tennis courts at Mills High School on Aug. 4, 2010.
A blood trail led investigators to a church two blocks from the school, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
There, they found Ahio's backpack, which contained a bloody knife and his identification, prosecutors said.
Ahio turned himself in to South San Francisco police the next day.
On Wednesday, Ahio pleaded no contest to first-degree murder. The plea agreement included a prison sentence of 25 years to life, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Ahio was initially found incompetent to stand trial and was admitted to Napa State Hospital in June 2012.
In January, it was determined that his competency had been restored and the criminal case against him resumed.
By accepting the plea agreement, Ahio no longer faces the possibility of a life term without parole, as he would have if the case had gone to trial, Wagstaffe said. Ahio is set to be sentenced on July 11.
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