Judge Gives 4 Life Terms to Killer of 2 : Courts: Vincent Medrano, 17, will spend at least 39 1/2 years in prison. He avoided a no-parole sentence.

A 17-year-old Ventura youth escaped a possible life-without-parole sentence Wednesday for the murders of two Saticoy men last April.

But in sentencing Vincent Medrano to four consecutive life terms, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones guaranteed that Medrano will spend almost 40 years behind bars before he can even be considered for parole.

“That’s effectively life without parole,” said James Matthew Farley, Medrano’s attorney. Farley described his reaction to the sentence as “nothing you would want to print.”

Although she had asked for a no-parole sentence, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer called the four consecutive life terms “a thoughtful, well-considered sentencing decision.”

Juveniles 16 and older became subject to no-parole life sentences in 1990, when California voters approved Proposition 115, the Victims’ Rights Initiative. But according to several officials who monitor juvenile sentencing, no minor in California has yet received such a sentence.

And as Medrano’s parents and the victims’ relatives waited to hear if he would be the first, Jones acknowledged that it was a difficult decision.

If the seriousness of Medrano’s crimes were the only consideration, Jones said, he would have no problem imposing a no-parole sentence. According to trial testimony, Medrano and another youth bought a rifle last April 7. That night, they and two other youths drove to Saticoy, and one of them fired several shots at a group of people standing outside a baptism party. Two men were killed and two others were wounded.

Medrano was convicted Sept. 25 of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and use of a firearm. He also was convicted of a special-circumstance allegation that more than one person was killed, which made him eligible for the no-parole term.

“The only thing that gives this

court pause regarding life without parole . . . is the defendant’s youth,” Jones said. “This is a circumstance which has concerned the court and has troubled the court and with which the court has struggled . . . for months.”

Jones, who has two teen-age sons, has been a judge for 14 years, including six on the Superior Court. In that time, the former FBI agent and deputy district attorney has gained a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense jurist. He also is viewed by many attorneys as one of the Superior Court’s most competent judges. In sentencing, he is “not lenient, but not cruel,” one defense attorney said recently.

Even after months of consideration, Jones delayed his sentencing decision Wednesday morning after listening to the attorneys’ arguments. First he took a 50-minute recess, then returned to court briefly and said he would announce his decision after a one-hour lunch break.

Then, in a judgment he described as “just and reasonable,” Jones imposed four life sentences and ordered that they be served consecutively. A county probation official calculated that Medrano will have to serve at least 39 1/2 years before he can go before the parole board. By then, he will be 56 years old.

Jones granted Farley’s request that Medrano initially be housed at a California Youth Authority facility. CYA officials had evaluated Medrano and determined that he could benefit from the authority’s programs.

Medrano displayed no reaction to the sentence, but kept tapping his foot rapidly as he had done throughout the morning session. Medrano’s parents and sister also showed no reaction, but outside court his mother sat on a bench and cried softly.

Farley told Jones that the parents had provided a good home and had moved from Oxnard to Ventura to get their son away from gang influences. But while enrolled at Buena High School in Ventura, Farley said, Medrano was persecuted by a gang from Saticoy.

According to prosecutor Brewer, Medrano’s animosity toward the Saticoy gang was his motive for taking part in the drive-by shooting. As it turned out, however, the two slain men--Javier Ramirez, 18, and Rolando Martinez, 22--were not gang members.

Ramirez’s father, Claudio Ramirez, asked Jones “not to have any compassion for these criminals.”

Reading in Spanish from a folded yellow paper, Ramirez said: “To me, everything is already lost. I don’t want in the future for any more blood to be wasted . . . or for other mothers to suffer what we are suffering now.”

Through an interpreter, he also decried “what is happening in our neighborhoods. People are in a panic . . . they are just assassinating people.”

After the sentencing, Ramirez said he would have no further comment. But according to a victim advocate for the district attorney’s office, Ramirez was generally satisfied with the judge’s decision.

Ramirez’s only concern, the advocate said, was that Medrano may eventually be paroled and commit new crimes. But the father recognized that a no-parole decision was “a very hard thing for the judge to do,” the advocate said.

Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele will face the same dilemma March 20, when he is scheduled to sentence Edward (Anthony) Throop in the same case.

Also awaiting sentencing is 17-year-old Carlos Vargas, who pleaded guilty and testified against the others in exchange for a promise from prosecutors that they would not seek a no-parole sentence.

The fourth participant in the slayings, Joseph Scholle, was also convicted of murder, but since he was only 15 at the time, the maximum penalty he could receive was commitment to the California Youth Authority until he turns 25.