1 Jury in Gang Case Decides; 2nd Is Still Out

One of two juries deliberating the case of three men accused in Orange County’s worst gang-related shooting reached its verdicts Friday, but the judge ordered them sealed while the second jury continues deliberating.

Three defendants associated with the 5th Street gang in Santa Ana are charged with murder in the Sept. 16, 1989, drive-by shooting on La Bonita Avenue in Garden Grove. Two people, one of them a 4-year-old boy, were killed, and six others were injured.

Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour was about to wrap up jury selection for two of the defendants--Louis P. Valadez, 28, and Robert P. Figueroa, 20--when a third defendant, Roman G. Menchaca, 19, unexpectedly became ready for trial when a scheduling conflict by his attorney was ironed out at the last minute.

Rather than order a separate trial for Menchaca, as his attorney requested, the judge ordered a second jury to sit in on the trial with the Valadez-Figueroa jury. Although it has never been done in Orange County, a two-jury situation has been used in other California counties and has met appellate court tests.

Seymour eventually moved the trial to a larger courtroom to accommodate the two juries, and they heard testimony together almost until the end.

Menchaca attorney C. Thomas McDonald said the new courtroom was an improvement over the first one, where his jurors were forced to sit at the back of the courtroom amid the spectators, but that it was not enough to assure his client a fair trial.

“I’ve protested from the beginning that this isn’t a fair trial for anybody, but it hasn’t done any good,” McDonald said.

After the attorneys for Valadez and Figueroa rested their cases, Seymour sent the first jury home for two days while McDonald put on his defense.

Because the two juries now had different information, Seymour had to have the closing arguments presented separately. Closing arguments in the Valadez-Figueroa case were presented on Monday; in the Menchaca case, on Tuesday. That put the Valadez-Figueroa jury a day ahead in deliberations.

At first, Seymour said he would take the verdicts as they came in. But later in the week, after consulting with the attorneys, he decided against risking having one jury find out what the other jury had done.

The Valadez-Figueroa jury was ready with its verdicts by mid-afternoon Friday, after deliberating a little longer than three days.

The judge asked the jurors to stay until 4:30 p.m., in case the Menchaca jury would be done by the end of the day. When the Menchaca jurors said they would have to return Monday to continue deliberating, Seymour sealed the first set of verdicts and asked the Valadez-Figueroa jurors to return on Monday.

Prosecutors have called the La Bonita Avenue shooting the worst gang-related incident in the county.

Those killed were Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, 18, and Frank Fernandez Jr., 4. The boy’s 2-year-old brother was among those wounded by rifle fire.

Prosecutors contend the shooting was a retaliation by 5th Street gang members against the 17th Street gang for a previous shooting.