Boy, 16, Guilty of Murder in Deaths of 2 Saticoy Men

With tears in their eyes, Ventura County Superior Court jurors convicted a 16-year-old boy of first-degree murder Wednesday for the slayings of two Saticoy men in April.

Vincent Medrano of Ventura held his chin in his hands and displayed no emotion as the court clerk read the verdicts. But many of the jurors cried softly, and none wanted to talk about the case afterward.

“It was difficult for the jury because he was so young and because he wasn’t the shooter,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer. “It was not a pleasant thing.”

The jury took two days to decide that Medrano, one of four teen-agers charged in the case, was guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy. Defense attorneys James Matthew Farley and Charles L. Cassy had asked for a verdict of second-degree murder or manslaughter, arguing that Medrano, a passenger in the back seat, did not expect anyone to be killed in the drive-by shooting.

Brewer, however, said Medrano instigated the crime and wanted people to die. She said that under the law, he was no less guilty than the youth who fired the shots.

“I’m glad the jurors followed the law,” Brewer said after the verdicts were announced. “I’m relieved.”

Medrano was the last of three teen-age defendants to be found guilty of the April 7 killings. A fourth suspect, 16-year-old Carlos Vargas, pleaded guilty and testified against the others.

Witnesses at Medrano’s trial and at several earlier court proceedings provided this account:

Vargas and Medrano bought a .22-caliber rifle on the afternoon of April 6 and scored some bullets to enhance their explosive effect on impact. That night, they were drinking at an impromptu party in a Ventura lemon orchard. Medrano and another youth, Edward (Tony) Throop, mentioned grudges that they had against a gang based in the Cabrillo Village neighborhood in Saticoy.

With Vargas at the wheel and 15-year-old Joseph Scholle riding along, the youths drove through Cabrillo Village, and Throop fired several shots toward people standing at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Javier Ramirez, 18, and Rolando Martinez, 20, were killed. They were attending a baptism party and neither was a gang member, investigators said. Two other men were injured.

The four suspects were arrested within a few days.

Scholle was convicted in Juvenile Court and was sentenced to the California Youth Authority, which must release him by his 25th birthday.

But Medrano and Throop were tried as adults, and two key issues now face the Superior Court judges who must sentence them:

* Does California law allow minors to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole? Medrano and Throop were convicted of a so-called “special circumstance” allegation that more than one person was killed. Conviction of a special circumstance normally allows a life sentence without parole, but defense attorneys have argued that the law prohibits that for minors.

* Even if the law allows a no-parole sentence, does Medrano or Throop deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison? The only alternative sentence under the law would be a life term with the possibility of parole after serving at least 18 years.

Judge Frederick A. Jones, who will sentence Medrano, has already ruled that a no-parole sentence would be legal. But Brewer said the judge has agreed to reconsider his ruling before Medrano’s sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct. 25.

Judge Allan L. Steele , who will sentence Throop on Nov. 7, also has ruled against the defense on the special-circumstance issue but also has agreed to re-examine it.

Neither judge has given any indication of what sentence he will impose. Both ordered the county probation department to prepare sentencing reports.

Prosecutors agreed to drop the special-circumstance allegation against Vargas in exchange for his testimony. He will be sentenced by Steele on Dec. 6.

Meanwhile, Medrano is sharing a room at Juvenile Hall with Vargas, the boyhood friend who testified against him. Throop, who turned 18 in July, is being housed at Ventura County Jail.

One of the men wounded in the drive-by said Wednesday that he was pleased with the outcome of the final trial in the case.

“I’m glad they got caught and glad everything got taken care of,” said Ilmer Maradiaga, 22, who was struck in the head and back and who testified at several proceedings.

He said he believes that the defendants intended to kill people that night. “They planned it out,” Maradiaga said at the Ventura restaurant where he works. “Even if they didn’t try to kill anyone, it was a dumb thing to do.”