FILLMORE : Boy, 16, to Be Tried as Adult in Slaying

A judge ruled Tuesday that a 16-year-old boy charged in the fatal stabbing of a Fillmore man Dec. 11 should be tried as an adult in connection with the slaying.

Armando Murillo of Fillmore will be arraigned Jan. 13 in Ventura County Superior Court. The youth is being held in juvenile detention in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Rodolfo Molina Mora, 27, was stabbed during an altercation in the 700 block of Blaine Street in Fillmore about 3:40 a.m., authorities said.

Ventura County Public Defender Steve Lipson had asked Judge Steven Z. Perren to delay his decision on whether to try Murillo as an adult until after hearing witnesses testify.

But Perren denied the attorney’s request. The judge made the ruling after hearing arguments from attorneys and reading a probation report on the defendant’s background.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley argued that Murillo could not be rehabilitated in the state’s juvenile system. He cited an extensive juvenile record by the defendant and what he called aggravating circumstances surrounding Mora’s death.