MURRIETA – Today, March 15, 2013, three San Diego County men were sentenced for the 2008 murder in Temecula of a Wildomar pastor’s son.

Matthew Alexis Basler, of Del Mar, was sentenced to 69 years to life; Matthew Justin Black, of El Cajon, was sentenced to 70 years to life, and James Wing Fung, of San Diego, was sentenced to 71 years to life. The sentences were rendered by Superior Court Judge Angel Bermudez, who presided over the trial of the three men.

On Nov. 6, 2012, a Riverside County jury convicted the three men of the murder of 22-year-old Ryan Armstrong, the attempted murder of a friend who was with Armstrong, and misdemeanor assault Advertisement

[ Berry-Bell and Hall Mortuary ] of a third victim. Armstrong is the son of Ron Armstrong, senior pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Wildomar.

The murder happened on Dec. 26, 2008, outside a bar on Jefferson Avenue in Temecula. Earlier, inside the business, a woman who was with Armstrong’s group of friends placed a cup of beer on a pool table and was confronted by Basler, Black, and Fung about it. Armstrong and his friends came to the defense of the woman and there was a verbal confrontation with the three San Diego men.

That culminated in the physical attack outside the bar during which Armstrong was stabbed to death.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith.