Youth, 17, Withdraws Offer to Plead Guilty to Gang Slayings

A 17-year-old boy offered to plead guilty to murder Thursday in a drive-by shooting that killed two men in Saticoy last month, but the deal fell through when prosecutors insisted upon a first-degree murder plea.

It was one of several developments Thursday in the case of Edward (Tony) Throop, who is accused of being the triggerman in the slaying of Javier Ramirez and Rolando Martinez. Investigators say the victims were not gang members but were shot at random in a gang-related turf battle.

A day of legal wrangling drew three public defenders and six representatives of the district attorney’s office--including Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury--to Municipal Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr.’s courtroom. When it was over, Tony had won one battle but lost another.

Prosecutors first tried to persuade Campbell to reconsider his ruling Wednesday that minors, including Tony, cannot be charged with a “special circumstance” which, upon conviction, could result in a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.

The judge did reconsider, and he admitted that he had made a technical error on Wednesday. But he reaffirmed his basic finding that the California Supreme Court has ruled that minors may not be subjected to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said they would appeal that ruling to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

With the special-circumstance allegation removed, the public defenders representing Tony asked to change his plea to guilty. They said that under the law, their client was entitled to plead simply to murder. Then a judge would decide whether there was enough evidence of premeditation and malice to warrant a first-degree murder conviction.

If convicted of the two counts of first-degree murder, Tony would face at least 25 years to life in prison, compared to 15 years to life for second-degree.

But Campbell said Tony would either have to plead guilty to the complaint as amended--which specifies murder in the first degree--or plead not guilty and proceed with a preliminary hearing.

Tony and his attorneys decided against his pleading guilty. The preliminary hearing will resume today before Municipal Judge Lee E. Cooper Jr.