Irvine man gets 40 years to life for father’s murder

A former Corona del Mar High School student who shot his father to death in their Irvine home was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life in prison, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

In October, a jury convicted Steven Bruno, 23, of murdering his 60-year-old father, Ernie, in August 2012 so he could rendezvous with an online girlfriend in Ohio.

At Friday’s sentencing in Orange County Superior Court, Ernie Bruno’s sister submitted a letter detailing the effect the death has had on her, the district attorney’s office said.

“Today, I am haunted by images of Ernie’s murder, knowing that the last thing Ernie saw was his son, Steven, walking toward him, pointing a gun at his head and pulling the trigger,” she wrote. “I believe Steven is a menace to society and should never be set free.”

Defense attorneys argued that the shooting wasn’t premeditated. They suggested that Steven Bruno was trapped in an abusive household and pulled the trigger on a Glock pistol as a reflex when his father charged at him.

Prosecutors, however, said Steven Bruno desperately wanted to meet a woman he had been communicating with for months, even if it meant killing his father.

Steven Bruno stole his father’s car, cash and credit cards the night of the shooting in order to make the trip to Ohio, according to Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia Herrera.

Family members found Ernie Bruno’s body a day later, locked in a home office. Officials arrested Steven Bruno soon after while he was driving through Colorado.

The jury ultimately convicted Steven Bruno of second-degree murder, with a sentencing enhancement for personal discharge of a firearm.