VENTURA : 17-Year-Old Pleads Not Guilty in Killing
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A 17-year-old Ventura gang member and former high school track star pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he stabbed another youth to death near Camino Real Park in Ventura.
Jesse Conchas, charged as an adult, denied charges of murder and assault in the May 3 slaying of 16-year-old Jose Lopez Navarro of Port Hueneme.
Authorities say Conchas hung out with gang members late on May 2 at Camino Real Park, where he got into a fight with Navarro, a member of an Oxnard gang. According to testimony in his preliminary hearing last month, Conchas stabbed Navarro, then chased him about 100 yards before stabbing him again from behind.
Conchas was a B-plus student and cover boy for the Ventura County Youth for Christ, but also belonged to the Ventura Avenue Gangsters before his arrest, according to testimony.
He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at Ventura County Juvenile Hall. His trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 5.
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