Tough Stand Over Use of a Gun : Crime: Prosecutors successfully petitioned to have Arronn Pinkney, 16, tried as an adult for attempted murder. He never fired a shot. A passenger in his car did, and missed.

The day that would end with 16-year-old Arronn D. Pinkney facing life in prison for attempted murder started innocuously enough.

A promising football player who attends continuation school in Pomona, Pinkney picked up a schoolmate at 10 a.m. and headed to Ganesha High School for a student assembly.

By 3 p.m., as his classmates left the campus, Pinkney was in police custody in connection with a drive-by shooting during the lunch hour at Pomona’s Five Points Shopping Center.

Police reports indicate that Pinkney didn’t fire a shot; a passenger in his car did. The target, 17-year-old Frank Soriano, escaped uninjured when the bullet ricocheted off a door frame and shattered the window of a local store.

Authorities say Pinkney is not a gang member or drug abuser and has not been convicted of any serious crime. But prosecutors successfully petitioned to try him as an adult. He remains in County Juvenile Hall on $50,000 bail; at one point his bail was $500,000. If convicted of premeditated attempted murder, he could face life in prison.

Pinkney’s case, which is scheduled for trial next month, is far from unique. Stories like his are debated every day by juries across Los Angeles County.

But whether Pinkney was a willing accessory to premeditated attempted murder or a misguided teen-ager who got sucked into events beyond his control, his story illustrates how quickly the stakes can escalate when teen-agers carry guns.

In this case, both Pinkney’s family and his attorney believe that race--Pinkney is African-American--also plays a role.

“If these were two white kids, the bail wouldn’t have been set so high and charges wouldn’t have been filed this way,” said James Kearney, his attorney.

Pinkney’s mother, July Curd, insists that her son had no intention of killing anyone. She has taken a second mortgage on her home to hire Kearney and bombarded the court with letters from educators and clergymen attesting to Pinkney’s character.

“It’s outrageous for him to be charged with premeditated attempted murder,” Curd said. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and the charges should reflect that.”

Her pleas find little sympathy among law enforcement officials in Pomona, where more people are slain each year than anywhere else in the San Gabriel Valley.

In 1991, the city had 25 killings; police say there have already been 26 this year, eight of which were drive-by shootings. Pomona prosecutors say they want to send a strong message to those who participate, however peripherally, in violent crimes.

“We have lots of guys doing life in prison without ever hitting someone,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Ferris, who specializes in gang crimes.

“It could have been you or me,” said Cristina Weiss, the deputy district attorney who will prosecute Pinkney. “This is about as serious as you can get without actually killing someone.”

Killing someone is not what Pinkney’s family ever envisioned their only son doing. The boy comes from a close-knit family. His mother, who worked 14 years as a preschool teacher for the Pomona Unified School District, has a master’s degree in child development.

She reared Pinkney with her husband of 16 years, James Curd, who owns a trucking business. On weekends, Pinkney helps his stepfather, whom he calls Dad, haul loads. He is also close to his mother’s brother, Dave Newton, a state policeman and counselor for the San Bernardino County Probation Department.

But Curd conceded her son is no angel. Six days before his arrest, he was placed on probation for obstructing and resisting a public officer at the County Fairgrounds in Pomona. In a written statement, Pinkney said the run-in occurred when the officer manhandled his pregnant sister.

Pinkney inspired strong support. One of his former Sunday school teachers, who didn’t want her name used for this story, gave the Curds $1,000 for the boy’s defense. Tommy Morrow, pastor of Victory Community Church of Pomona, said in a testimonial that the teen-ager attended church every Sunday.

Mary B. Darrow, one of his former counselors at Ganesha High School, wrote that Pinkney asked to switch to college prep classes last fall and appeared determined to do well. But he never completed the course work, which his mother blamed on asthma that made him miss school.

Probation records show he got three Fs, a C, a B- and a B+ on his last report card at Park West Continuation High School. Students can switch to continuation schools if they have academic or behavioral problems or otherwise can’t function in regular schools. Pinkney’s mother said she transferred him to Park West because he was being threatened by students at Ganesha.

During the week, Pinkney hung out with a group of neighborhood teen-agers who sometimes feuded with a Latino group. “Neither one of those are active gangs,” said Ferris, who prosecutes gang crimes in Pomona. “Those kids aren’t gangsters; they’re a bunch of lightweight dummies.”

Things began to unravel Feb. 12 after Pinkney picked up Leroy Edwards III in his white 1992 Hyundai and drove to Ganesha. There, Edwards and Frank Soriano argued, then fought. Campus police threw them out.

Pinkney told police that he and Edwards then drove to a friend’s house to get a .38 pistol because Pinkney feared that the Latino boy would try to knife him. At the house, a third teen-ager asked Pinkney to take him shopping.

Police have conflicting statements from that point. According to Pinkney, the two groups ran into each other at the shopping center and one of the Latinos reached behind him, as if for a knife. Pinkney said that prompted him to get the gun from his car, point at the ground and shout: “I’m tired of you all chasing us.”

Soriano, however, told police that Pinkney pointed a gun at him twice, a statement corroborated by a witness in a restaurant 25 feet away. The witness told police it appeared that Pinkney wanted to scare, not shoot, his opponent.

When they saw the gun, the Latinos fled into a nearby store and the black teen-agers jumped into their car and drove off. Pinkney said he handed the gun to Edwards and later heard a shot, but he said he didn’t see anything.

Edwards, also charged with premeditated attempted murder, told police that Pinkney urged him to shoot the Latinos’ car as they drove past. Soriano told police that Edwards pointed the gun into the store where he was hiding and fired. As the car sped away, witnesses jotted down the license, which police traced to the Curds.

Charges against Pinkney were dismissed last month because he wasn’t tried within the allotted 60 days. But prosecutors immediately refiled, which is permitted under the law. On Monday, his bail was reduced to $50,000.

Court documents indicate Pinkney has been well-behaved while in custody. But his probation officer is recommending that Pinkney receive the maximum sentence because of the sophistication and premeditation of his alleged crime. Pinkney “poses a serious threat to the lives and safety of citizens in the community,” the officer wrote.

People sentenced to life typically are eligible for parole after seven years. But prosecutors will argue that Pinkney’s crime was premeditated, which could tack another five years. Using a gun could add another three to five years.

That devastates July Curd. “My son used poor judgment and did not think about the consequences of his action, but I think he’s learned his lesson,” Curd said. “My plea is for compassionate treatment.”