SATICOY : Boy, 17, Pleads Not Guilty to Murder

A 17-year-old boy accused of killing two men during a drive-by shooting in Saticoy pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder Thursday.

Edward (Tony) Throop also pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the April 7 shooting that investigators have said was prompted by gang animosity.

Throop, one of four teen-agers charged in the case, allegedly fired the shots that killed Rolando Martinez, 20, and Javier Ramirez, 19, as they left a baptism party in Cabrillo Village. The two were not gang members.

Throop also is charged with a special circumstance of participating in a multiple murder, which could result in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Throop’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn, filed a motion to strike the special circumstance, saying that state law is unclear about whether a juvenile can be jailed without possibility of parole.

Arguments on the motion will be heard next week.

Meanwhile, prosecutors urged Municipal Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. to rescind an order allowing Throop’s girlfriend to visit him in JuvenileHall.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said later that prosecutors were worried that Throop might try to arrange an alibi with the girlfriend, receive contraband or work out a scheme of retaliation.

Campbell ruled that visits by anyone except Throop’s attorney or an attorney’s representative be monitored or recorded.

In addition, written communications can be read, he said. Visitors also will be subject to searches.

Throop was transferred to the adult court system after he was found to be unfit for juvenile court Wednesday.