16-Year-Old to Be Tried as Adult in Drive-By Slayings

A 16-year-old Ventura boy accused of murder in the drive-by slaying of two Saticoy men will stand trial as an adult, a judge ruled Monday.

“It’s hard to imagine anything more serious than a casual drive-by shooting in which two people are killed,” Ventura County Superior Court Judge Robert L. Shaw said in finding Vincent Medrano unfit for the juvenile court system.

As a result of the ruling, Medrano faces a minimum of 25 years in prison if he is convicted. He could face life without parole if he is also convicted of two “special circumstance” allegations.

Had he remained in the juvenile justice system, Medrano would have been released by age 25.

Medrano is the second of four suspects in the case to be found unfit for juvenile court. The alleged triggerman, Edward (Tony) Throop of Ventura, will go on trial Aug. 5. The 16-year-old suspected of driving the car, Carlos Vargas of Ventura, will have a hearing July 15 to determine whether he will be tried as an adult.

The fourth suspect, Joseph Scholle of Oxnard, is 15, and by law he must remain in the juvenile system.

The four are accused of driving through the Cabrillo Village neighborhood in Saticoy on April 7 and firing into a crowd attending a baptism party. They allegedly wanted to strike back at gang members who had beaten up Medrano several weeks earlier, but the two men they killed--Javier Ramirez, 19, and Rolando Martinez, 20--were not involved in gangs, investigators said. Two other men were wounded.

Under the law, five factors must be considered before a juvenile can be ordered to stand trial as an adult. If the suspect fails any of the tests, he is considered unfit for the juvenile system.

In Medrano’s case, Shaw found him unfit on two criteria: the seriousness of the offense, and the degree of criminal sophistication.

Medrano’s attorney, James Matthew Farley, said after the hearing that he was not surprised by Shaw’s finding on the seriousness question. “You can’t get more serious than a double homicide with two wounded,” he said. But Farley disagreed that his client had displayed criminal sophistication.

However, to back up his finding of sophistication, Shaw cited evidence that Medrano and Vargas bought the semiautomatic rifle the afternoon before the shooting; that Medrano and Vargas scored several bullets with grooves to enhance their destructive power; that Medrano concocted an elaborate but preposterous alibi; and that after the shooting, Medrano helped stash the gun in various hiding places before investigators found it under his sister’s bed.

Medrano got the idea of scoring the bullets from a 1989 movie, “The Bear,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said, and a few minutes of the film was played during the hearing. In the scene, a hunter is shown cutting an X on the nose of a bullet. Then he fires it at a tree trunk, creating a small hole where the bullet enters and a much wider one where it comes out the other side.

“Vincent said you score bullets so they peel like a banana on impact,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said, quoting a witness who talked to investigators. She said at least one of the bullets taken from the slain men’s bodies had been scored.

She said the victims’ families were pleased with the judge’s ruling. Friends and relatives of both men have been attending every court proceeding, no matter how brief or routine. The next is at 1:30 p.m. today, when Medrano will be arraigned in Municipal Court and is expected to enter a not-guilty plea.

Medrano’s parents, George and Nellie Medrano, also attended Monday’s hearing, along with his sister Jessica and another girl.

Having lost his bid to keep the case in juvenile court, Farley said he will concentrate on giving his client at least the hope of regaining his freedom by the time he reaches middle age.

The attorney said he will challenge the right of prosecutors to charge suspects under 18 with “special circumstance” allegations that can result in a no-parole life sentence. The special circumstances are the fact that there was more than one victim and that a gun was used.

For his part, Medrano “feels hopeless about his personal future,” a defense psychologist testified Monday.

“He said life doesn’t feel real to him now,” said the psychologist, David R. Wilson, who interviewed Medrano three times. “He said he feels sorry about those who died. . . . At the present time, he feels a lot of self-blame and self-punishment.”