VENTURA : Boy Pleads Innocent in Drive-by Killing
A 17-year-old Ventura boy accused of killing two Saticoy men in a drive-by shooting pleaded not guilty Friday in Ventura County Superior Court.
Edward (Tony) Throop entered the plea after Judge Allan L. Steele rejected complicated legal challenges by the public defenders representing Throop, who said the complaint was improperly written.
Throop’s attorneys, who have conceded his involvement in the slayings, maintain that as a juvenile he cannot be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. The district attorney’s office says he can.
Steele sidestepped that issue, saying there was no defect in the complaint that forced him to rule on it yet. He scheduled the start of trial for Aug. 5.
Throop is accused of being the triggerman in a shooting that killed Javier Ramirez, 19, and Rolando Martinez, 20, on April 7 as the two victims stood outside a baptism party in Saticoy. Although the gunfire was part of a long-running gang-related feud, the victims were not gang members, authorities said.
Three other teen-agers who were in the car also are in custody awaiting court action.
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