Grand Jury Indicts Teen in Gang-Related Slaying

The Ventura County Grand Jury has indicted a 16-year-old Oxnard boy in the gang-related slaying of a 14-year-old last year.

Albert Madueno was arraigned Wednesday on charges that he shot and killed Ralph Rico Jr. on May 20 as the boy stood on the sidewalk in front of his aunt’s house in Oxnard’s South Winds neighborhood.

The indictment--the grand jury’s first of 1997--was returned Tuesday.

In addition to the murder charge, Madueno faces a special allegation of using a firearm during the commission of a murder. His trial is set for April 14.

One of the youngest murder suspects in the county, Madueno was 15 when Rico was fatally shot.

Relatives of the slain boy said he was trying to avoid gangs that plague the South Winds neighborhood.

Less than a month before his death, Rico was released from a Juvenile Hall facility where he was sent for violating probation in a robbery case.

Administrators at the Colston Youth Center described him as a troubled teen who was trying to turn his life around by throwing himself into counseling and classes at the center. He was living with an aunt in Oxnard and hoped to attend Port Hueneme High School in the fall.

In contrast, Madueno testified at a fitness hearing in juvenile court in November that although he did not kill Rico, he falsely claimed credit for the slaying because he wanted to impress older gang members.

Police arrested Madueno, whom Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom described as a “wannabe gang member,” in July after learning that he had boasted of the shooting. The teen said he made up a story using information from newspaper reports.

The indictment has stirred some animosity between the prosecutor and public defender in the case.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn said he decided to take the case to the grand jury after Windom requested and received a continuance on the preliminary hearing last month.

Glynn charges that the request for a continuance was submitted so late that travel arrangements made for an informant to testify could not be changed.

“Aside from the total discourtesy,” Glynn said, “we incurred the expense.”

So Glynn decided to go directly to the grand jury, which returned its indictment three days before the preliminary hearing was to have begun.

“I figured the heck with him, and we just did it in front of the grand jury,” Glynn said. “We have a number of witnesses who are young people with gang affiliations. I am anxious to get into this and get it done.”

Windom said he was caught off guard by the indictment. He had issued subpoenas for the preliminary hearing this week.

“We are still a bit shocked that it went to the grand jury,” Windom said Wednesday. “We had no prior knowledge . . . we feel that there must be something wrong with the case to go to the grand jury.”

The prosecutor’s gripe about the continuance is baseless, Windom added.

“Mr. Glynn was given adequate information and notice” of the request for a delay, he said. “There was no indication from anyone that this preliminary hearing on March 7 would not go forward, and we were prepared to go forward.”

Meanwhile, Glynn is seeking a court sanction against Windom. He wants the attorney to pay the cost of the informant’s $246 air fare. The matter is set for a hearing on Friday.

Windom said the request for sanctions is “just sour grapes on the part of the prosecutor.”