15-Year-Old Gets Prison in Shooting Death of Reseda Schoolmate : Courts: Under state law, the Panorama City boy can only be incarcerated until his 25th birthday.

A Juvenile Court commissioner on Wednesday sentenced a 15-year-old Panorama City boy to nearly 24 years in prison for fatally shooting a 17-year-old schoolmate, but under state law the boy can only be incarcerated until his 25th birthday.

“This law was written by people who don’t know what’s going on on the streets,” said San Fernando Valley Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold, adding that the sentence he imposed “means nothing in the scheme of things.”

The boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, in essence will serve less than 10 years for killing Micheal Shean Ensley on the Reseda High School campus Feb. 22.

Teen-agers are not afraid of committing crimes, Gold said, because “they know that the system doesn’t really punish them. It doesn’t matter. For some unknown reason, the California Youth Authority says it cannot keep youngsters beyond their 25th birthday.”

Outside the courtroom, Margaret Ensley, the victim’s mother, said that despite the boy’s age, he is old enough to know right from wrong and should have been punished as an adult.

“As the judge said, a lot of these kids are not being punished the way that they should,” Ensley said.

Before sentencing, Ensley had asked Gold not to show any leniency because the youth--who looked down but showed no emotion as he was sentenced--has not shown any remorse. She asked Gold not to rule that the killing was second-degree murder, as requested by the boy’s attorney.

But Gold, who did fix the slaying as second-degree murder, said his finding would make no difference.

“Whether I say first degree or second degree is a technicality,” Gold told her. “Your words are not lost on me, but they should be carried to Sacramento.”

A bill that would allow 14-year-olds to be tried as adults is pending in the state Assembly, but under state law a minor must be at least 16 at the time a crime is committed to be tried as an adult.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James R. Bozajian agreed that the punishment is not sufficient for the crime, but said he hopes that somehow this case will deter other teen-agers from bringing guns onto school campuses.

“A lot of times kids are not punished as they should . . . but I really hope that this case reminds kids that they cannot bring weapons to campus,” Bozajian said.

On April 28, Gold upheld a petition against the teen-ager--the juvenile court equivalent of a conviction--charging him with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a loaded weapon on a school campus and attempted robbery. Officially, he was sentenced to 23 years and 10 months to life in prison.

During the one-day trial, witnesses testified that the shooting occurred during a morning recess on the Reseda High campus. The teen-ager and Ensley, whom police said did not know each other but were members of rival graffiti tagging crews, exchanged looks and words near Ensley’s locker.

The two appeared about ready to fight, when the teen-ager pulled a small gun from his pocket and shot Ensley once in the chest. Ensley staggered out of the building and collapsed in a nearby grassy area.

The teen-ager testified that he shot Ensley in self-defense because he thought Ensley was reaching into his pocket to pull out a gun. Ensley’s mother denied that her son was ever a member of a gang.

The teen-ager fled the campus after the shooting, and on a nearby street tried to rob another student. The student, however, only had a dollar and change, and the teen-ager walked away.

Police arrested the teen-ager soon thereafter at a nearby doughnut shop, where he was eating a doughnut and drinking a lemon drink.