Judge Convicts Teen of Murder in First Degree
A juvenile gang member has been convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the drive-by shooting death of a teen-ager on a Garden Grove street in April.
Fifteen-year-old Mario Pena was the first of three suspects to be tried for the killing. He was convicted by Superior Court Judge Phillip Cox at West County Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Avdeef said.
On April 30, the victim, 17-year-old Rosendo Ibarra, was talking at a pay telephone on Katella Avenue between the Panaderia Sonoria, a bakery, and the American-Mexican Video Store when he was shot once in the head.
Avdeef said the shooting was retaliation for an earlier attack that left gang member Baltazar Medina wounded in the leg. Ibarra was a member of a rival gang that reportedly executed that attack.
He will be sentenced Dec. 14, and could face incarceration at the California Youth Authority until he is 25. Because of his age, he could not be tried as an adult, according to Garden Grove Police Investigator Mike Handfield.
The two other men will be tried in early December in connection with the murder, Handfield said.
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