Prosecutor Says 15-Year-Old Argued to Fire Fatal Shots

Moments before the drive-by shooting in April in which two Saticoy men were killed, 15-year-old Joseph Scholle quarreled with his buddy for the right to fire the fatal bullets, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The comments came as Scholle, the youngest of four teen-agers charged with murder in the case, became the first to go on trial in Ventura County Superior Court.

“Throop and Scholle both wanted to do it,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said, referring to co-defendant Edward (Tony) Throop, 17.

Kossoris said Throop insisted on being the triggerman, but the prosecutor assured Judge Allan L. Steele that he had strong evidence linking Scholle to the planning and execution of the crime.

Kossoris said Scholle and Throop accompanied Carlos Vargas and Vincent Medrano, both 16, to a girls’ slumber party, where a drive-by shooting was discussed. The party adjourned to a lemon orchard. There the group drank and talked again about conducting a drive-by shooting and mentioned the Cabrillo Village neighborhood, Kossoris said. Medrano and Throop both wanted to settle old grudges against a Cabrillo Village gang, the prosecutor added.

The boys dropped off the girls and sang songs as they drove to Saticoy, the prosecutor said. After driving through the neighborhood a few times to scope out escape routes, he said, they parked where they could take a clear shot at people standing outside a baptism party at the end of a dead-end street.

Throop, sitting in the right rear seat of Vargas’ red Camaro, fired several shots, Kossoris said. The bullets killed Javier Ramirez, 19, and Rolando Martinez, 20, and wounded two others. Despite the alleged gang-vengeance motive, neither of the slain men was a gang member, investigators said.

As the car sped away, one occupant triumphantly yelled the battle cry of an El Rio gang, Kossoris said, adding that Scholle was an El Rio gang member.

The four teen-agers were arrested a few days after the April 7 shooting and have been charged with murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.

Because he is only 15, Scholle must remain in the juvenile justice system, and cannot be held past his 26th birthday if he is convicted.

The other three, however, are being treated as adults. Medrano will have a preliminary hearing next week, and Throop is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 5. Prosecutors have accused them of a special-circumstance allegation that more than one person was killed in the crime. If convicted, they could face life in prison without possibility of parole.

Vargas pleaded guilty Monday to the murder and conspiracy charges and promised to testify against the others in exchange for a promise by prosecutors to drop the special-circumstance allegation. The early testimony in Scholle’s trial Wednesday suggested why Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, who rarely accepts a plea bargain, decided that he needed Vargas to bolster the testimony of reluctant witnesses.

Kossoris said in his opening remarks that Scholle told his girlfriend that he had gone to Saticoy that night, that two people were killed there and that he was scared. Kossoris said Scholle had asked the girl to say he was with her when the shooting occurred.

But when the girlfriend, 13-year-old Sharon Edwards, testified Wednesday, she at first said Scholle had not discussed the shooting. Later, she amended her testimony by saying that he “hardly talked about the drive-by.”

As Scholle shuffled papers at the defense table without looking at her, the girl denied that he had asked her to help him establish an alibi.

Similarly, Kossoris had said in opening remarks that Scholle and Medrano had visited a friend, Anthony Pillado, a day or two after the shooting and had laughed and shaken hands while boasting about it.

When Pillado, 14, took the stand Wednesday, however, he said he remembered the visit but did not recall any discussion of the shooting. Only after Kossoris reminded him of his testimony at Throop’s preliminary hearing and of his statements to investigators did Pillado acknowledge that the incident may have occurred.

Vargas is expected to testify this morning.