By TOMOYA SHIMURA, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Even after his girlfriend and her mother pleaded guilty to the murder of the family’s father, a man and his parents decided to continue a court battle that’s been going on for nearly five years.

Vincent Schofield, 21, who is also charged with the 2005 killing of Alberto Benitez, and defense attorney Daniel Mangan asked Judge John Tomberlin last Friday to continue the case in a jury trial.

“They want us to just take that plea to get it done under the bush,” said Brian Russ, Schofield’s stepfather. “We are not going to. We’ve just got to trust the jury and trust other people and let their decision do it.”

Schofield’s accused accomplices, Justina Marie Perry, 22, and April Gwen Benitez, 41, accepted plea bargains in a surprise move on Feb. 18.

Perry pleaded guilty to one charge of second-degree murder, facing 15 years to life in prison, while her mother, April Benitez, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

Mangan said last week their pleas would impact his client’s decision, but Schofield didn’t accept an offer that could put him in prison for 25 years to life.