3 Sentenced in Mistaken Slaying of Sylmar Teen-Ager : Crime: One defendant was the first to be convicted under a law that outlaws membership in violent street gangs.

In an emotional hearing that brought tears even to the judge’s eyes, three men were sentenced to state prison Thursday for the 1989 beating and fatal shooting of a Sylmar teen-ager they mistakenly believed ordered the death of one of their fellow gang members.

And in a surprising move, San Fernando Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey ordered Manuel Madrigal, 23, to serve a 29-year-to-life term, three years more than was requested by prosecutors. Madrigal was convicted last month of first-degree murder for the slaying of 16-year-old Jimmie Torrez III, as well as an additional charge of being a gang member.

He was the first person in Los Angeles County convicted under a controversial 1988 law that outlaws membership in violent street gangs.

In another unexpected development, one of his two co-defendants--Robert Flores, 23--asked to withdraw from an earlier plea bargain and stand trial on more serious charges in the Torrez murder.

Triggerman Albert Martinez, 20, was sentenced Thursday to 27 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last month.

Nearly 70 people crowded into the tiny courtroom and several tearfully urged Mackey to impose the maximum sentence on Madrigal, Flores and Martinez, who beat and fatally shot Torrez on Aug. 28, 1989.

“They took my son’s life and show no remorse whatsoever,” the dead boy’s mother, Donna Torrez, said. “They should be deprived of life in a free society.”

“Our daughter will never know what her father was really like,” said the dead youth’s girlfriend, Valerie Barron, 16. “She won’t know a father’s love.”

Several times during pleas from the family, Mackey wiped tears from his eyes with a blue tissue. Others in the audience wept during the hourlong proceedings and Torrez’s 4-month-old baby daughter squirmed in her grandmother’s lap. Handcuffed together, Flores and Martinez sat motionless during the hearing, but flashed smiles as they were led away. Madrigal sat with his hands folded in his lap and his head down.

In a letter to the judge, Madrigal earlier asked for leniency.

“We all know that in life when you commit a crime, your day will come when you have to pay for that crime,” he wrote in pencil on yellow legal paper.

According to testimony at Madrigal’s trial, the three men chased Torrez as he left a Granada Hills fast-food restaurant on the back of a motorcycle driven by a friend. Torrez fell from the motorcycle near 2nd Street and Hubbard Avenue in San Fernando and was kicked and beaten by Flores, Madrigal and Martinez, all believed to be members of a Pacoima gang. Martinez then shot Torrez five times in the back and once in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Authorities said the attack stemmed from a flippant remark Torrez made to a cousin that he had ordered the death of a member of the same Pacoima gang several months before.

Torrez was not affiliated with a gang, authorities said.

“The bottom line was, there was absolutely no reason for this,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison. “There was no reason for Jimmie Torrez’s life to end that night.”

Mackey likened the killing to “shooting a jack rabbit in the street,” sentencing all three to the maximum possible terms.

Citing Madrigal’s conviction on the gang charge, Mackey added three years to his murder sentence of 26 years to life. The increase surprised Nison, who said he did not think the time could be added to the life term.

Critics have complained that the Street Terrorism Enforcement Act, as the gang law is formally known, is discriminatory and attempts to punish those who associate with certain people, not harmful actions.

Madrigal’s attorney, Melvin J. Brown, has said the conviction will be appealed.

Flores, the driver of the getaway car, was sentenced to 12 years after pleading guilty in May to manslaughter. In an unexpected move, he asked Thursday to withdraw from the plea bargain. If his request is granted, he would have to stand trial for first-degree murder and could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

A hearing was set for Sept. 13 to determine if Flores can reverse his plea.

His attorney, J. Anthony Bryan, declined to discuss why Flores wanted to cancel the deal.