Adult Trial Ordered for Boy in Slayings : Courts: The judge sets bail at $1 million--four times that sought by prosecutors. The 17-year-old is accused in the drive-by shooting of two men in Saticoy.

A 17-year-old boy accused of killing two young Cabrillo Village men in a drive-by shooting in Saticoy last month will be tried as an adult, a judge ruled Wednesday.

In a courtroom overflowing with friends and relatives of the victims, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Robert C. Bradley said Edward (Tony) Troop “is clearly unfit for juvenile court.”

He said Troop will be arraigned as an adult this afternoon but ordered him to remain in custody at Juvenile Hall until July 16, when he turns 18. He will then be transferred to County Jail. The judge set bail at $1 million--four times the amount recommended by probation officials.

Troop’s transfer to the adult system came after prosecutors disclosed that his gang involvement began at age 10, that when the slayings occurred April 7 he was on probation for trying to stab someone in a gang fight and that he has shown no remorse since his arrest April 9.

His chances of being rehabilitated by age 25--one of the five factors Bradley had to consider in deciding whether Troop should be tried as an adult--are slim, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said.

“We feel that this minor is a person devoid of conscience,” she said. “Seven years is not enough for a person to develop a conscience.”

Troop’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender William Rutan, did not contest the transfer to the adult system. Afterward, he said he considered it a foregone conclusion given the seriousness of the offense.

Troop, one of four teen-agers charged in the case, allegedly fired the shots that killed the two men and injured two others as they left a baptism party in the Cabrillo Village neighborhood in Saticoy.

Investigators have said animosity between rival gangs prompted the gunfire, although the victims--Rolando Martinez, 20, and Javier Ramirez, 19--were not gang members.

Hearings are scheduled for May 10 on whether two 16-year-old boys who were with Troop will also be tried as adults in the slayings.

If convicted of first-degree murder as adults, the suspects could be sentenced to as much as life in prison without parole, officials said. If convicted as juveniles, they could not be held past their 25th birthday.

A 15-year-old boy who also was in the car must be tried as a juvenile, according to state law.

All 56 seats in Bradley’s courtroom were filled and about 30 people waited outside during the 20-minute hearing. At least four extra deputies provided security, searching bags and scanning spectators with metal detectors as they entered.

Most of the spectators appeared to be friends or relatives of the victims. Troop’s mother sat behind him, and his girlfriend also attended the hearing.

Under the law, youths who commit serious crimes at age 16 or 17 are presumed unfit for the juvenile system. In such cases, the judge must consider five criteria. If any one of them is met, the law says the juvenile should be tried as an adult.

Bradley found that Troop’s case met two of the criteria: the circumstances and gravity of the alleged offense, and the criminal sophistication exhibited by the minor.

“It’s hard to imagine a more ruthless offense,” Bradley said. He also agreed with prosecutor Brewer’s contention that there was “a great degree of criminal sophistication.”

Brewer said the crime was planned and was meant as retaliation for vandalism to the car belonging to Troop’s mother. The fatal bullets, fired from a semiautomatic rifle, had been scored with a pattern of Xs so they would do more damage, she said.

After the shooting, the weapon was moved three times before police found it, and Troop “set up an elaborate alibi with friends,” Brewer said.

As further evidence of Troop’s criminal sophistication, Brewer said, he has “continually displayed his knowledge of the legal system. He knew how various minors had been handled by the juvenile system. He displayed keen awareness of the difference between adult and juvenile murder.”

Bradley said he agreed with a probation officer’s report that said Troop might be judged favorably on the three other criteria required to keep a case in the juvenile system: ability to be rehabilitated by age 25, lack of a serious prior criminal record and the success of previous rehabilitative efforts.

But those issues became moot when Bradley found that the other criteria had been met.

Brewer insisted that Troop failed all five tests. She said there is little chance of rehabilitation given Troop’s reaction to his alleged crimes, which she said “goes beyond lack of remorse.”

“He avoids feeling,” she said. “He says ‘I was drunk. What could I do? I gotta go with the flow.’ ”

His juvenile record, she said, includes “very serious gang involvement” that began at age 10. In January, 1990, she said, he tried to stab someone in a gang-related altercation and was put on probation. Before his arrest last month, she said, he was “not doing well on probation” and continued to have gang contacts.

“This minor clearly has chosen not to stop his gang involvement,” she said.

After Bradley found Troop unfit for the juvenile system, he agreed to a prosecution request that bail be set at $1 million rather than the $250,000 bail that is standard in murder cases and recommended in the probation officer’s report.

Arguing for the higher amount, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said Troop would be likely to commit other crimes, such as intimidation of witnesses, if released on bail.

Rutan said it was pointless to seek $1-million bail because Troop’s family is unable to put up even $250,000.

Bradley granted Rutan’s request that Troop be permitted weekly visits by his girlfriend, although only parents and grandparents normally are allowed to visit juvenile offenders.

“Since he is being treated as an adult, he ought to be treated as an adult for purposes of visitation,” Bradley said.

Troop displayed no emotion during the hearing. Afterward, he hugged his mother before bailiffs led him into a holding cell.