OAKLAND — The death of 16-year-old Perla Hilarios, while tragic, was simply a result of a robbery gone bad, a deputy district attorney said during closing arguments in the murder trial of a man authorities have linked to the killing.

The defendant, Juan Milton, admitted as much to the police, the district attorney's office and the local newspaper, Deputy District Attorney David Stein said.

"He told everybody and anybody who was willing to listen what his intent was — his intent was to rob," Stein said, raising his voice. "He told (police detectives) what his intent was, he told (the deputy district attorney) what his intent was and he told the Oakland Tribune what his intent was."

Milton told about the robbery, Stein said, because at the time the then-19-year-old had no idea that committing a killing during a robbery is felony murder, which carries a mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole.

It was only after he realized that his actions the night of Dec. 2, 2003, could place him in prison until he dies that Milton recanted his admission and devised a new story, denying he had been conducting a robbery, Stein said.

"He didn't know (felony murder rule) or its implications, but he knows now," Stein continued.

Stein's focus on the alleged robbery was an attempt to buttress Milton's primary defense in the case that the death was an unfortunate result of self-defense, and that Milton is a victim of a

police department eager to solve a highly publicized slaying of a teenager. Juan Milton, 24, and his brother Anthony Milton, 22, both of Oakland, were injured in shootings that night, and said they had been fired upon as they walked down the street.

David Kelvin, Juan Milton's court appointed defense attorney, has argued throughout the trial that the brothers simply had been wearing the wrong colors in the wrong ZIP code.

Hilarios' boyfriend, Juan Carlos Marquez, was a member of the Border Brothers' gang, evidence in the case showed. The Border Brothers had an ongoing rift with members of a rival gang that wore red.

On the night of the slaying, Kelvin said, his client had been wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.

"This was a confrontation that evolved from gang violence, not a robbery," Kelvin said. "The Border Brothers see what they perceive to be the enemy and they decide to settle the score."

Kelvin said his client was coerced into saying it was a robbery by police detectives who were eager to close a case that garnered media attention. He said Juan Milton stuck with the story because he feared retribution.

And, Kelvin said, Juan Milton initially lied to police because he was trying to protect his brother, who had recently escaped from a juvenile group home.

Kelvin pointed to statements given by Marquez the night of the slaying in which he never mentioned a robbery had occurred.

"There are two sides to the case, I would like you to consider both of them," Kelvin said.

The case now rests in a jury's hands.