Teen’s Slaying Called Classic Example of Gang Warfare : Courts: Prosecutor says ’93 shooting was ‘pay-back’ for lost fight. Defense says alleged gunman never meant to kill.

SANTA ANA —  The fatal shooting of a teen-age soccer player outside Century High School is a classic example of gang warfare--and a tragic reminder of the youthful victims who are caught in the cross-fire, a prosecutor told a juror Wednesday.

The alleged gunman, Miguel Camarena, 19, is on trial for murder for shooting 17-year-old Jose Luis Lopez, a varsity soccer player who was gunned down as he drove to school with his brother.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Rozenberg said Camarena, a reputed gang member, was seeking revenge when he opened fire as Lopez drove by on Feb. 26, 1993. Two days earlier, Camarena had lost a fight with Lopez’s brother, Adrian, while Jose Lopez and others looked on, the prosecutor said.

“It’s a vicious cycle of pay-back” that rules gang-riddled streets, Rozenberg told an Orange County Superior Court jury. Camarena had “lost face” in the fight, and was determined to regain “respect” with murder, he said.

But during the trial’s closing arguments Wednesday, defense attorney James Appel said Camarena has the mentality of a 12-year-old and was a “slow and easy” target for bullies. He only armed himself to scare off another attack and never intended to kill anyone.

“Is he trying to get respect, or is he a person who is mildly retarded and is just trying to get people to stop beating him up?” Appel asked jurors.

Appel asked jurors to consider lesser offenses--second-degree murder or manslaughter--as an appropriate verdict. He insisted that Camarena did not ambush the teen-ager by trying to take him by surprise, noting that Camarena opened fire in front of several witnesses at 8 a.m. on a busy street.

But in his closing argument, Rozenberg pulled the alleged murder weapon from his waistband and waved it in the direction of surprised jurors, noting that a gunman does not have to be in hiding before carrying out an ambush attack.

Jurors began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon.

Lopez faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder and allegations that the crime was gang-related and Camarena was lying in wait for his victim.

The fatal shooting came in the midst of a seemingly endless escalation of violence on school campuses. Lopez was the fourth Southland student to die by gunfire in the month leading up to his death, and the shooting was the eighth near Orange County schools in the 1992-93 school year.