Youth Convicted in Drive-by Slaying

A 16-year-old Oxnard youth was found guilty of first-degree murder Tuesday for fatally shooting another teenager as he stood on the sidewalk in front of his aunt’s home.

Albert Madueno, who later bragged to gang members about pulling off the drive-by shooting, faces 25 years to life in prison. He could face an additional 10 years for using a gun in the crime.

Madueno, who turns 17 in two weeks, will be sentenced Nov. 7. He is one of the county’s youngest convicted killers.

The jury deliberated about three days before returning the verdict Tuesday morning, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona said.

The panel’s decision followed a trial in which Madueno took the witness stand in his own defense, telling jurors that he did not kill Ralph Rico Jr. on May 20, 1996. The boy died of gunshot wounds to his chest.

At age 14, Rico was one of the county’s youngest homicide victims last year and among an alarming number of victims caught in the cross-hairs of gang violence in Oxnard’s South Winds neighborhood.

The crime-plagued community has been an area of heightened concern for authorities as well as the focus of a new, $4.5-million anti-gang program.

Relatives of the slain boy said he was trying to avoid the gang lifestyle, having been in and out of the juvenile court system.

Last November, Madueno testified at a juvenile court fitness hearing that he took credit for the slaying because he wanted to impress older gang members. However, he denied actually taking part in the killing.