22-year-old pleads guilty in fatal attack on Chinese student in L.A.

Twenty-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen Friday pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to second-degree murder for his involvement in the beating to death of Chinese student Ji Xinran.

Jonathan Del Carmen, left, appears in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, with his attorney Marvin J. Hamilton Jr., as one of four defendants being charged in connection to the 2014 beating death of USC graduate student Xinran Ji student during an attempted robbery. [File Photo: IC]

Del Carmen, one of four murderers involved in the attack, is facing 15 years to life in state prison after killing Ji near the University of Southern California's South Los Angeles campus on July 24, 2014. He is set to be sentenced on Nov. 3 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli.

Two of the other murderers, Andrew Garcia and Alejandra Guerrero, were both convicted of first-degree murder. Garcia was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday while 19-year-old Guerrero is awaiting his sentence and is likely to receive the same sentence as Garcia.

The fourth defendant, 20-year-old Alberto Ochoa, is still awaiting the start of his trial.

A photo of University of Southern California graduate student Ji Xinran sits next to a flower arrangement during his memorial service at the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. Authorities said robbers fatally beat the 24-year old with a baseball bat on July 24 as he walked to his apartment near campus. Four teenagers are charged with murder. Despite his injury, Ji managed to make it home to his apartment, where, police said, a roommate found his body later in the morning. [File Photo: IC]

They attempted to rob Ji when the USC student was walking home from a study session. They beat the victim to death with a baseball bat.

According to the local City News Service website, the prosecutor told jurors that Garcia, Guerrero and Ochoa got out of the car to confront the victim, then drove around the corner as Garcia and Guerrero chased after Ji and continued the attack.