Two men convicted of 2013 Santa Paula gang-related murder

Ventura

A jury has found two men guilty of second-degree murder in a 2013 Santa Paula gang-related shooting, prosecutors said.

The verdict means Santa Paula residents Omar Ruiz, 30, and Franky Magana, 32, face life sentences for the shooting of Ulises Virto, 21, on May 27, 2013. Virto was gunned down just before 9 p.m. on a street corner near his home in the 400 block of Dartmouth Road, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

He was shot seven times and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

As the jury’s Wednesday decision was read, Magana rocked back and forth in his chair while Ruiz sat still in Courtroom 45 of Ventura County Superior Court. More than a dozen people, including Virto’s daughter and other family members, were there.

“It was a senseless crime, and a guy that wasn’t even a member of the gang got shot and killed,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Tate McCallister. “He had some bad friends, but he wasn’t out there committing crimes for a gang. These guys were.”

Ruiz, Magana and a third unidentified man drove a vehicle up next to Virto, then got out and shot at him with handguns. As Virto tried to escape the gunfire, he ran in front of a residence, where bullets were later found, McCallister said. The pair were additionally convicted of shooting at an inhabited dwelling as well as several special allegations including that the crime was committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang, prosecutors said.

McCallister argued that the killing constituted first-degree murder because it was a deliberate and premeditated attack on a rival gang, but the jury did not agree and instead convicted the pair of second-degree murder. McCallister called the decision disappointing but ultimately said the jury’s decision still means the sentences will be “adequate to protect the community.”

Ruiz was also found guilty of several charges he was facing connected to his murder arrest on Nov. 7, 2013. That’s when authorities received a tip that he was in a home on Holly Ridge Drive in Camarillo, prosecutors said. When deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrived, Ruiz saw them approach via surveillance video and fired an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at them, prosecutors said. No one was struck, they said.

After a brief standoff, he was taken into custody, authorities said.

Ruiz was found guilty of another count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, evading an officer and machine gun assault on a peace officer, prosecutors said. He was also charged with attempted murder, but the jury found him not guilty, authorities said.

Another rifle and body armor were found during a search warrant at the Camarillo home, and Ruiz was subsequently convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and body armor, authorities said.

An undated photo of Ulises Virto and his daughter, Lily. Virto, 21, of Santa Paula, was shot and killed on May 27, 2013.

Magana was arrested the same day as Virto’s murder. A Santa Paula police officer responded to the initial report of gunshots and intercepted the vehicle as Magana, Ruiz and the unidentified gunman fled the area. At one point during the high-speed chase, the vehicle stopped and Magana got out and ran but he was followed by the officer and taken into custody, authorities said.

Evidence of the crime, including the handguns, was thrown from the vehicle during the chase. The items were recovered and forensically examined, with the results linking both Ruiz and Magana, prosecutors said.

The men are scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. March 26 in Courtroom 45.