Youth Guilty of Slaying in Clash With Gang Members : Trial: Defense lawyer plans an appeal, saying responsibility should be shared among the 20 El Segundo teen-agers who were involved in incident.

A 17-year-old El Segundo high school student was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder Thursday for shooting two Burbank youths in a clash that marked the beach town’s first serious brush with gang violence.

Torrance Superior Court jurors deliberated for a week before concluding that Jeffrey Dobrovolny fired the shots that killed 17-year-old Jeramy Perales and wounded Jorge Castellano, 21, during a car chase through at least three South Bay cities.

As the jury’s verdict was read, Dobrovolny rested his forehead against his clasped hands and wept quietly while his relatives sobbed uncontrollably.

“No, no!” his mother, Chris, called out as Judge John Shook told the jurors that they had done their duty well.

Jury foreman Tom Judge, who had tears in his eyes after the verdict was read, said jurors did the best they could.

“The biggest problem was determining guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as we were instructed,” he said. “I feel for the family. We all have kids that we raise up and wish would not get into situations like this.”

Shook ordered Dobrovolny taken into custody pending sentencing Oct. 31. The teen-ager, who had been free on $250,000 bail, faces up to 22 years to life in prison.

While Deputy Dist. Atty. Al Botello left the court without commenting on the verdict, defense attorney Charles T. Mathews said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the jury’s conclusion and plans an appeal.

“I don’t think the verdict was warranted by the facts,” said Mathews, who argued during the trial that someone else had fired the deadly shots. “Failing (acquittal), it ought not to have been more than a voluntary manslaughter. I don’t believe this boy at any point intended to kill.”

Noting that as many as 20 other El Segundo youths were involved in the fatal chase, Mathews said he believes responsibility for Perales’ death should be shared.

“Where was the adult supervision that all of these children from this affluent community were supposed to have?” he asked.

“Whatever (Dobrovolny’s) sin was, it belongs to the whole town and all of the adults who should have been there that night.”

According to testimony, the shootings took place late Feb. 15 at the end of a raucous Friday night of drinking and carousing for groups of youths from El Segundo and Burbank.

Perales, Castellano and four friends--some of whom were affiliated with a North Hollywood street gang--encountered about 25 El Segundo youths who had gathered at an all-night sandwich shop on Imperial Highway after an evening of drinking and celebrating that followed a high school basketball game.

A confrontation quickly flared up at the shop and the groups began hurling beer bottles or cans at each other. At one point, members of both groups chased one another through the parking lot.

Outnumbered, four of the Burbank youths, including Perales and Castellano, fled in a pickup truck. Several carloads of El Segundo youths set out after them.

Before joining the search, Dobrovolny ran home to get a .22-caliber rifle given to him by his grandfather, according to Mathews.

When the car in which he was riding caught up with the pickup truck stopped on Imperial, Dobrovolny pointed the rifle out the window and fired several shots, witnesses said.

Mathews said Dobrovolny fired over the youths’ heads; Botello said Perales was struck in the arm during the volley.

During the high-speed chase that ensued, several more shots were fired. Mathews contended that other El Segundo youths also were armed and fired shots during the chase.

When the chase ended at a Manhattan Beach gas station, Perales had been struck again, this time in the chest, and lay dying in the bed of the pickup truck. Castellano, who jumped from the truck and stabbed at one of the pursuing drivers with a box cutter, had been shot in the stomach.

Dobrovolny, who did not testify at the trial, buried the rifle in his back yard and fled to Hawaii. Several days later, he flew home to turn himself in and told detectives that he thought he might have shot someone in the stomach.

Mathews believes others questioned about the chase were not so forthright.

“Jeff Dobrovolny was the only one who stood up and told the truth about his involvement, while a number of others chose to lie,” Mathews said. “He is being punished for that.”