Defense Says Gang Trial Will Reveal True Killers : Courts: The witnesses are lying or mistaken, contend lawyers, who say they’ll prove their clients aren’t responsible for 2 deaths.

Lawyers for three men accused of murder in the worst gang shooting spree in Orange County history boldly declared Tuesday that they will not only prove their clients innocent but also reveal the actual killers.

“No one disputes that a cowardly act of urban terrorism occurred,” defense co-counsel Julian Bailey told jurors as the trial opened. But the witnesses against the young men, he said, are either lying or mistaken.

The defense lawyers refused to elaborate, however, on the prediction that they will identify, Perry Mason-style, the true criminals as the case proceeds.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef, in his opening statement, dispassionately laid out for jurors how a truck with amber lights moved slowly south on La Bonita Avenue in Garden Grove just after dark last Sept. 16. Suddenly, two males in the back opened fire on a group of people seated in cars or gathered on the street near one of the homes.

At least 20 shots fired from two rifles left six wounded and two dead, including a 4-year-old boy struck in the chest as he sat in the back seat of his parents’ car.

Avdeef explained how, one by one, reluctant witnesses to the shooting finally agreed to cooperate with police. And those who did have identified the three defendants with certainty.

Prosecutors contend that the defendants are all from the 5th Street gang and came up to La Bonita--in the heart of 17th Street gang turf--for yet another round of violence in a bitter feud between the gangs that has gone on for 10 years.

Avdeef told jurors that two women from the La Bonita area had been in a car in Santa Ana the day before the shooting, when two of the defendants shouted to them: “Where are your home boys? Tell them we’ll pay them a visit.”

The Newport Beach courtroom was teeming with jurors because--for the first time in Orange County--two separate panels are hearing the case at the same time.

Defendants Robert P. Figueroa, 20, and Louis P. Valadez, 28, had expected to be tried together, but separate from a third defendant, Roman G. Menchaca, 19. Menchaca’s attorney, C. Thomas McDonald, initially had a conflict that appeared to prevent him from preparing his case in time for the scheduled trial date.

But McDonald’s schedule cleared before testimony in the case against Figueroa and Valadez began. Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour came up with the two-jury idea so prosecutors would only have to present their witnesses and evidence one time.

McDonald vehemently objected and argued Tuesday that the jurors who will consider Menchaca’s case were forced to sit farther back in the courtroom because the jury box was filled by members of the other panel. Some of the Menchaca jurors said they had trouble hearing witnesses and seeing the evidence. Seymour announced that next week he will switch the two jury’s positions, for fairness.

The biggest problem was the noise interruption for jurors in the back row whenever members of the public entered or left the courtroom. The judge finally stationed a deputy marshal at the door to try to reduce the disturbances.

“That’s my jury sitting back there,” McDonald complained. “This is no way to run a trial.”

Whatever the level of inconvenience, jurors throughout the courtroom listened intently to prosecutor Avdeef’s first day of witnesses: primarily police officers and criminalists who arrived in the neighborhood immediately after the shooting.

They described a scene of near chaos: bodies, blood and empty shell casings all over the dark street. One officer testified he ordered a special generator to help light up the street so investigators and lab technicians could gather evidence.

The two people killed that night were 4-year-old Frank Fernandez Jr. and Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, 17. Among the six injured included 26-year-old Richard Rendon, whose left leg had to be amputated because of bullet wounds.

The eyewitnesses claim that Menchaca and another young man--a juvenile who is unidentified and will be tried separately later--fired from the back of the truck. Valadez, they claim, was driving, and Figueroa was the lookout.

One irony may be that the defense will attempt to use the prosecution’s motive as a two-edged sword. Yes, there is a bitter rivalry between 17th Street and 5th Street gangs, Menchaca attorney McDonald told jurors. But he claims it’s that rivalry, and the witnesses’ hatred for 5th Street, that is leading them to lie about the defendants.

Some of the eyewitnesses are expected to take the stand when the trial resumes today.

CASE BEING HEARD BY TWO JURIES

For the first time in Orange County, three defendants in a murder case are being tried by two separate juries at the same time and in the same courtroom. The case involves what police call one of the worst gang-related shootings in Orange County.

Defendants: Ramon Gabriel Menchaca, 19, Louis Palomino Valadez, 28, and Robert Figueroa, 20. The three Santa Ana men are charged with murder and attempted murder.

Victims: Frank Fernandez Jr., 4, and Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, 18. Both were killed in a Sept. 16, 1989, drive-by shooting in Garden Grove that left six others wounded, including the youngster’s mother, his 2-year-old brother and a 26-year-old man who lost a leg because of bullet wounds.

Juvenile: A 14-year-old boy was arrested and faces charges in Juvenile Court.