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OAKLAND — With his brother already serving 28 years to life for a robbery that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old girl, Anthony Milton learned Friday that he would be spending the rest of his life behind bars for the same crime.

During a brief sentencing hearing before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Joseph Hurley’s, Milton, 23, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for firing the gun that killed Perla Hilarious as she stood with her boyfriend on the 1600 block of 46th Avenue in Oakland in 2003.

Milton, 17 at the time of the murder, declined to make a statement after he was sentenced.

“It’s a tragic case,” said Deputy District Attorney Connie Campbell. “It’s why the law seeks to discourage the use of a gun during a robbery because someone might get killed.”

According to Campbell, the murder occurred as the two attempted to rob Juan Carlos Marquez as he stood outside his brother’s apartment with his girlfriend Hilarious at about 12:25 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2003.

Seeing the couple outside, the Milton brothers approached, with Anthony Milton pointing a Tech 9 pistol at the pair. Anthony Milton threatened to “blast” one of them while Juan Milton checked Marquez’s pockets for cash.

Marquez, a former member of the Border Brothers gang, did not take well to being robbed and began to argue with the Milton brothers while his friends, still gang members, approached.

As the gang members drew

near, Anthony Milton fired the gun, hitting Hilarious in the head, killing her instantly.

The gang members saw and heard the shots and fired their weapons at the Milton brothers, hitting Juan in the leg and Anthony in the chest.

The Miltons fled the scene and drove to Highland Hospital, where Juan dropped off Anthony before checking himself into Kaiser Hospital.

Oakland police caught the pair after receiving separate reports from the hospitals about admitting gunshot wound victims.

Juan Milton initially denied being involved in the crime, saying he was shot while buying food at a taco truck, but he eventually confessed after police told him they knew his brother was at Highland Hospital.

However, Juan Milton said that the shooting was in self-defense, sparked by Marquez and his gang friends approaching the brothers.

Albert Thews, Anthony Milton’s defense attorney, tried to convince a jury the shooting was self-defense, saying Marquez and his friends were trying to steal the Milton brothers’ car. Thews said Marquez and his friends pulled out guns first and Anthony Milton responded by randomly shooting his gun.

During Juan Milton’s trial in 2008, a defense attorney argued that his client was the victim of a gang intent on killing rivals. The attorney argued that the Milton brothers were mistaken as members of a rival gang and were forced to shoot their gun in self-defense.

Neither jury believed the defenses’ explanation for the killings and found both brothers guilty of murder.

Although Juan Milton also faced life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office dropped a special circumstances charge of committing a murder during a robbery, allowing Juan Milton to be sentenced to 28 years to life.

But the district attorney’s office decided not to drop the special circumstance charge against Anthony Milton because he fired the gun that killed Hilarious.