Murder Conviction Is County’s First Under 1989 State Gang Law

A 23-year-old Pacoima man was found guilty Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court of first-degree murder and also of membership in a gang, the first conviction by a Los Angeles County jury under a state law that went into effect last year.

Manuel Madrigal faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life for his role in the death of 16-year-old Jimmie Torrez, who was beaten and shot to death by alleged gang members in San Fernando last August. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 23.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison hailed the conviction as a landmark in anti-gang prosecution, although he described the law’s impact on the outcome of the Madrigal case as minimal.

“In this case, the practical effect isn’t significant,” Nison said, because by law Madrigal will be required to serve a longer term than 15 years, the longest term that the gang membership provision could ensure.

“Where it really has an effect is in cases of attempted first-degree murder or kidnaping, where the term is life and a person is eligible for parole after seven years,” Nison said. The gang membership provision then “has the effect of ensuring that it will be twice as long,” he said.

Although the gang membership charge will have no effect on Madrigal’s sentence, it has raised the issue of the legality of the anti-gang law, the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act.

Madrigal’s attorney, Melvin J. Brown, said his client will appeal the conviction. The district attorney’s office said it welcomes the appeal as a test case that prosecutors hope will lead to acceptance of the gang membership law by higher courts.

“I’m pleased that we have this case so that we can go ahead and have an appellate opinion to validate our position,” said John D. S. Allen, assistant head of the hard core gang division of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

“I fully expect that it will be found constitutional.”

Allen said his office will continue to bring gang membership prosecutions under the presumption that the law is constitutional. There are several other cases pending.

There has been at least one prior conviction under the gang membership law, in Riverside County, Allen said.

“The significance is that it shows that the state Legislature, the governor and the district attorney have heard the community’s outcry and have taken steps to take the community back,” from gang members, he said.

Nison described Torrez’s killing as a case of mistaken identity.

On Aug. 27, 1989, youths alleged to be members of a Pacoima gang chased Torrez in a car as he rode on the back of a friend’s motorcycle, believing Torrez had been involved in the killing of a fellow gang member weeks earlier. When Torrez fell off, Madrigal and three other people, including a juvenile, jumped from the car and beat Torrez, Nison said.

Another member of the group, Albert Martinez, is accused of shooting Torrez once in the head and five times in the upper torso with a .22-caliber rifle, Nison said.

Robert Flores pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter. Martinez is expected to be tried next month.

Under the Street Terrorism Act, members of criminal street gangs can be prosecuted on an additional charge of gang membership when arrested on suspicion of a gang-related crime. For the charge to be added, the gang must have been involved in two other felonies within three years of the crime in question, Allen said.

In cases in which a specific prison term is imposed, the gang charge can add up to three years to the term’s length. In cases that lead to indeterminate sentences, the charge ensures a minimum prison stay of 15 years, he said.

Brown called the law unfair to those who grow up in neighborhoods where gangs are common. “It implies guilt by association. I don’t think anyone who grows up in the projects can make it from age 15 to 18 without being stopped by the police,” Brown said.

Young men who are not gang members but happen to be in the company of a known gang member when questioned by police can then be labeled in police files as gang associates, Brown said.

Brown said the law was particularly unfair in the case of Madrigal, who had never been arrested prior to the Torrez killing.

“He does not fit the pattern. He is not a gang member.”

Allen said the charge does not depend on guilt by association. “There has to be proof” that the gang has committed crimes and that the person charged has some affiliation with the gang, he said.

Jurors said they were persuaded that Madrigal was a gang member by the testimony of witnesses, including a police officer who said Madrigal had admitted membership in the Pacoima gang to him. During the trial, Madrigal admitted kicking and beating Torrez.

Brown said Madrigal had been drinking on the night of the killing and believed Torrez had made an obscene gesture at him. Brown said Madrigal was unaware of the gang vendetta against Torrez.

Torrez’s parents expressed relief at the conviction and said they hoped it would send a message to gang members. “Still, it doesn’t bring my son back,” said Donna Torrez, holding her granddaughter, Jimmie Torrez’s 3-month-old child.