Judge Orders Youth to Be Tried as Adult in Slaying : Port Hueneme: Gilbert Martinez, 16, is described as an eager participant in fatal shooting during an attempted robbery.

A 16-year-old Port Hueneme boy described as eager to participate in the slaying and attempted robbery of a landlord who was collecting rents must stand trial as an adult, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Gilbert Martinez is one of three defendants headed for trial in the Dec. 1 slaying of Richard Schell, 52, of Santa Barbara. A fourth defendant--David Lee Soto, 19, of Oxnard--has pleaded guilty to murder and will testify against the other three in a deal that will give him a reduced sentence, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn said.

As he quietly shed tears--prompting a bailiff to hand the teen-ager a fistful of tissues--Martinez heard himself described as a criminally sophisticated teen-ager who brought a gun to the robbery and wasn’t afraid to use it.

While Martinez was not the mastermind of the robbery plan, he “couldn’t wait to participate,” Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren said.

“This (case) cries out quite clearly for management as an adult,” Perren said.

Schell was killed as he sat in his parked truck in Port Hueneme after collecting thousands of dollars in rent from tenants of four apartment buildings he owned in Ventura County. Officials said George I. Pena, 23, planned the robbery and recruited his accomplices after spotting Schell in Oxnard.

The four defendants then followed Schell to a Port Hueneme site they considered more suitable for a robbery, Glynn said. Schell died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.

The suspects were caught after an anonymous tipster phoned information to the Crime Stoppers program in Port Hueneme on Dec. 4, giving detectives descriptions of the men. The arrests were made four days later.

Two hours after he was found unfit for prosecution as a juvenile, Martinez pleaded not guilty in Municipal Court to charges of murder and attempted robbery. If he is convicted of all counts, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Also facing potential sentences of life without parole are Jose Luis Arreguin, 20, and Pena, both of Oxnard. Soto will be sentenced to 16 years to life under the terms of the arrangement reached with prosecutors.

Pena and Arreguin have a May 10 trial date.

During the hearing to determine Martinez’s suitability to be prosecuted as a juvenile, defense attorney James Farley argued that Martinez was “in the company of and directed by three adults.”

“This is not a 16-year-old boy who is doing this on his own,” Farley said.

But Glynn said it was Martinez who brought the .45-caliber automatic pistol to the site and who tapped on Schell’s truck window and demanded money.

“That shows a lot of criminal sophistication,” Glynn said.