15-Year-Old Guilty in Drive-By Gang Shooting

A 15-year-old Santa Ana gang member was found guilty Wednesday of participating in Orange County’s most vicious drive-by shooting in which two people died, including a 4-year-old boy, and six others were wounded.

Juvenile Court Judge Floyd H. Schenk convicted the youth on two counts of murder, 11 counts of attempted murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder and other lesser offenses in the bloody Sept. 16, 1989, shooting on La Bonita Avenue in Garden Grove.

The youth, whose name was not released because he is a minor, could be sentenced to the California Youth Authority until he is 25 years old. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2.

The youth was the last of four defendants tried for, and convicted of, last year’s gang shooting. Also convicted were Louis P. Valadez, 28, and Robert P. Figuerroa, 21, who were found guilty of murder; and, Roman G. Menchaca, 19, who was convicted of conspiracy.

Frank Fernandez Jr., 4, and Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, 18, were killed in the attack in which members of Santa Ana’s 5th Street gang were apparently retaliating against Garden Grove’s 17th Street gang for an earlier shooting.

Police have described the shooting as the county’s worst gang-related crime.

The defendant’s attorney, William G. Morrissey, said he was surprised by the judge’s ruling.

“Based on the evidence presented in court, I don’t see how any trier of fact could have found him guilty,” he said. He noted that the prosecution’s key witnesses, rival gang members, “were so impeached I don’t see how anybody could have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”