Throop Is Convicted of Murder in 2 Killings : Trial: He is also found guilty of a ‘special-circumstance’ allegation, making him eligible for life in prison without parole.

Ventura gang member Edward (Tony) Throop was convicted Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court of killing two Saticoy men and wounding two others in a drive-by shooting last spring.

Cradling his chin in his hand, Throop watched as jurors were polled on the verdict. He was found guilty in the killings of Rolando Martinez, 20, and Javier Ramirez, 18, who were shot with a .22-caliber rifle fired from inside a car on April 7.

Throop’s mother, Mitzi Darapiza, was in the courtroom to hear the jury’s findings: guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, use of a weapon and inflicting great bodily injury and of one count of conspiracy.

The jury also found Throop guilty of committing multiple murders, a special circumstance that could lead to life in prison without possibility of parole. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7.

As he walked into a holding cell, Throop glanced over his shoulder at his mother, who had refused his request to lie to police and give him an alibi after the slayings.

Outside the courtroom, a weeping Darapiza pleaded for Ventura County parents to keep their children out of gangs, saying that turf fights only lead to death or prison.

“I don’t want any mother to experience the pain, the hurt I’m feeling because of gangs--there’s no need for them. They are wiping out our children,” Darapiza told reporters.

She said of gang members, “They’re just wasting their lives away for dirt, and that’s all it is, dirt. The dirt will always be there. They won’t.”

Now that her son faces prison, Darapiza said, she has a better understanding of the loss suffered by the victims’ mothers, Virginia Martinez and Cecelia Ramirez, who were not present for the verdict.

“I know the pain that Mrs. Ramirez and Mrs. Martinez are feeling, and I just pray that some kids wake up and some mothers and fathers wake up and see what’s happening here today,” she said. “Get to know your children, that’s all I can emphasize. How many people, myself included, know their teen-agers?”

Throop’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Christina Briles, said Throop had no comment after the verdict. “But he looked pretty lost,” she said.

Attorneys on both sides said these events led to the shooting:

Throop and three other youths were drinking with some girls in a Ventura lemon orchard on the evening of Saturday, April 6. They dropped off the girls and drove to Cabrillo Village, a housing project in Saticoy.

They spotted some people at the end of a cul-de-sac, and Throop fired several shots from the window of the red Firebird, killing Ramirez and Martinez and wounding two other men.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris had argued that evidence showed the four in the car planned the shooting because Throop and Vincent Medrano, 16, of Ventura held grudges against members of the Campos, a Cabrillo Village gang.

One juror said the panel agreed with the district attorney’s position and did not believe Throop’s testimony that he was drunkenly shooting into the bushes in the early hours of April 7.

“You have a very clear-cut case,” said the juror, a Fillmore man who asked not to be identified. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he had association with the Ventura Avenue Gangsters. He said he thought he was shooting at gang members.”

The juror said of the conspiracy charge, “They planned to do what they did. They talked about doing a drive-by several times early in the evening, they’d armed themselves with a firearm. . . . It was pretty clear that a conspiracy had occurred.”

Throop, who turned 18 in July, can be sentenced to life without possibility of parole under Proposition 115, the Crime Victims’ Initiative. Passed in June, 1990, the law allows such a sentence for minors, ages 16 and 17, whose crimes were committed under “special circumstances.” In this case, the jury found Throop guilty of committing the special circumstance of multiple murders.

Briles said she is appealing the verdict on the grounds that Throop had no intention of killing anyone. She also has asked Judge Allan L. Steele to throw out the special circumstance on the grounds that another initiative, Proposition 114, which won more yes votes than Proposition 115, does not specifically allow such a penalty for minors.

Kossoris said the Throop verdict could become a test case for the provision of Proposition 115 allowing life sentences without parole for minors.

“We believe our position is correct, and we intend to seek life without parole,” Kossoris said. “It’s an issue that will be resolved by the state Supreme Court.”

Prosecutors are seeking the same penalty for Medrano, the last of the four suspects in the shooting to face charges. Medrano, whose trial is scheduled to begin this morning in Superior Court, also faces charges of murder and attempted murder.

Charges against the two other youths in the car already have been resolved:

* Joseph Scholle, 15, was convicted by Steele in a non-jury juvenile court trial and sentenced to the California Youth Authority, where he can be imprisoned no longer than until his 25th birthday.

* Carlos Vargas, 16, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the others. In return, prosecutors agreed not to seek life in prison without parole when Steele sentences him on Dec. 6.