SANTA ANA — A jury returned second-degree murder verdicts Wednesday for the last two defendants charged in the 1993 death of a San Clemente teenager who was speared through the head with a paint-roller rod during a beach side confrontation.
The mothers of defendants Saul Penuelas, 20, and Rogelio Vasquez Solis, 19, wailed in tears outside the courtroom, while the family of the victim, Steve Woods, said the guilty verdicts will have little meaning unless the two young men receive stiff prison sentences.
Family members on both sides briefly exchanged angry words following the verdict as emotions flared in a case that has proven deeply divisive throughout the county.
Woods, 17, was in the passenger seat of a friend's Chevrolet Suburban when a paint-roller pierced his skull during a confrontation Oct. 15, 1993, between two groups of young people at Calafia Beach County Park in San Clemente. He died 25 days later.
The two defendants, among six who were charged in the attack, said they threw rocks during the confrontation but never intended to kill anyone. Their attorneys urged jurors to return with a lesser verdict of involuntary manslaughter.
Although it was never proved who threw the paint-roller, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer contended all the defendants were responsible for Woods' death because they joined in and acted together to hurl beer cans, wood chunks and other items at the teenager and his friends, who said they were driving from the park to avoid a fight with the other group.
The Orange County Superior Court jury reached its verdict after about four hours of deliberations. The defendants were each convicted of nine felonies, including second-degree murder, multiple counts of assault on the other youths in the cars and gang enhancements. Penuelas admitted membership in a San Clemente gang, while Solis said he was merely hanging out with friends he had grown up with in Mexico and San Clemente, their attorneys said. Neither have previous criminal convictions.
The defendants, 17 at the time of the crime, were tried as adults and will be sentenced in October. They are eligible for commitment at the California Youth Authority, where they can't be held past age 25, or a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.
