VISTA -- An 18-year-old gang member who took part in a fatal sniper attack on Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled Monday.

As he listened to the judge lay out his fate, Penifoti "P.J." Taeotui showed no visible reaction.

Neither did the slain officer's father, Steve Bessant, who moments before had invoked his Christian faith and forgave Taeotui, encouraging the young man with a troubled and unstable upbringing to ask God's forgiveness.

Bessant, however, asked Superior Court Judge Runston Maino to send Taeotui to prison for life without parole, the maximum sentence permissible, given that Taeotui was 16 at the time of the shooting.

"Please do not confuse my forgiveness with weakness," Bessant said in a crowded courtroom, directing his words to Taeotui. "While I wish the best for you, I do not trust you, and my hope is that you will be separated from the innocent and honest for the rest of your life. I am aware of no evidence of a desire for change, to leave the gang lifestyle behind, or of remorse for killing my son."

Last fall, a jury convicted Taeotui of first-degree murder and special circumstances, including the murder of a police officer.

In addition to a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Maino ordered Taeotui to serve 56 years for his conviction of assault with a deadly weapon for shooting at a second officer and a civilian "ride-along" with Bessant.

The packed courtroom tensed as Maino delivered the sentence.

Bessant's family and supporters sat on one side of the room, along with a half-dozen Oceanside police officers, including Chief Frank McCoy.

Taeotui's family and supporters filled seats on the other side.

Bessant was gunned down by a rifle bullet at the corner of Arthur Avenue and Gold Street on Dec. 20, 2006, while he was assisting another officer with an unrelated traffic stop in a residential neighborhood prone to gang violence.

The shots were fired from the front of a known gang residence more than a football-field's length away.

Prosecutors say Taeotui and two buddies had been drinking and playing with guns when they spotted the police officers at a traffic stop down the street, watched them for a while and then decided to open fire.

Taeotui's bullets did not strike Bessant, but those of his friend and fellow gang member, Meki Gaono, pierced the officer's heart, prosecutors said.

The ambush shooting, authorities said, was fueled by the teens' desire to prove themselves and bolster the street status of their Oceanside gang.

Taeotui was tried as an adult, but because he was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, the law prevented prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

Life in prison without parole was the maximum sentence, though it was within Maino's discretion to give Taeotui a sentence that included the possibility of parole.

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Tom Manning told reporters that the judge did the right thing.

"A message needs to be sent to gang members," the prosecutor said. "You aim a gun and fire at police officers and you kill a police officer, you're going to get the maximum sentence, and the full strength of the law is going to come down on you."

Taeotui's defense attorney, Wil Rumble, had asked Maino to consider handing the teenager a sentence that could have given him a shot at parole -- a long shot, the attorney acknowledged -- about the time Taeotui nears 60 years old.

Rumble asked Maino to consider a number of factors, including that Taeotui was only 16 and intoxicated when he and his buddies fired on the officers.

Rumble also argued that Taeotui had had a very troubled upbringing, including an alcoholic, absentee father and a mother who had been sent to prison.

Also, Taeotui had no criminal record, and was not the one who fired the fatal shot," Rumble said.

"We are asking you to impose a sane and humane sentence," Rumble said.

Maino rejected the request, finding that "the case comes down to the act itself."

"I just can't understand this sort of thing," Maino said. "The lack of provocation. It was deliberate."

Moments later, deputies led Taeotui from the courtroom.

Dressed in a green jail-issue uniform and with his hair pulled into a low bun, the young man threw a quick glance at his family.

In the hallway outside of the courtroom, one of his female supporters sobbed uncontrollably.

"It's unfair," said Mike Dempster, who coached Taeotui in youth football. "It's sad about the victim, but he deserves a chance. He's not a bad kid."

Bessant was a married father of a 2-month-old boy when he was shot.

His slaying marked the second time in less than four years that a police officer in the coastal city was shot to death while on duty.

The gunman in the 2003 slaying of Officer Tony Zeppetella is now on death row.

Gaono, who has reportedly confessed to the killing, will stand trial in February.

The case against the third accused teen was weak and eventually dismissed by Maino.

Manning said the teenager remains a suspect and the case is still under investigation.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com