2 FOUND GUILTY IN MALL SLAYING : TAFT HIGH STUDENT SHOT TO DEATH IN '95.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

Jurors took less than four hours Monday to convict two men for fatally shooting Taft High School sophomore Ramtin Shaolian as he walked with friends at the Fallbrook Mall.

The seven-man, five-woman Van Nuys Superior Court jury found Tommy Lee Williams and Elliott O'Neal Singletary, both 20, guilty of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.

Jurors also convicted Williams of the special allegation of lying in wait, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Singletary faces six life sentences.

``I was surprised by the fact that it was only four hours,'' Deputy District Attorney Laura J. Baird said after the verdicts were announced. ``But what they did was very violent and the jury concurred with that.''

Singletary's attorney, Philip Nameth, said a mostly white jury was the reason for the quick conviction of the two African-American defendants.

``I am amazed that they could determine my client's liability in this case in about an hour and a half,'' said Nameth of the Alternate Public Defender's Office.

Prosecutors and police said jurors considered the evidence - not race.

``They planned it. They stalked them,'' said LAPD Detective Jary Quinones. ``They orchestrated the whole thing.''

In what prosecutors called ``a parent's worst nightmare,'' Shaolian, 16, was killed June 9, 1995, after his friends got into a verbal confrontation with Singletary.

Singletary jumped into a car with Williams and several girls, hunted down the group of youths later at Fallbrook Mall, and wildly shot nine rounds, hitting Shaolian several times.

Williams' defense attorney, Dror Toister of the Public Defender's Office, could not be reached for comment.

Two girls were granted immunity for their testimony, and a third wasn't charged. A fourth girl, the driver of the car, is facing murder and conspiracy charges in Juvenile Court.

Baird said jurors viewed the two girls as ``strong and credible witnesses.''

During the nearly two-week trial, the two 17-year-old girls testified that they and two of their girlfriends went out with Singletary and Williams, who ran with the EWF, or Every Woman's Fantasy, crew.

Singletary used a public telephone outside a Sav-on store at the Fallbrook Mall when Shaolian and a group of his friends walked up to use the phones.

The girls said that Singletary asked the group of youths if they were gangbangers. One of Shaolian's friends uttered a vulgarity and retorted, ``Do we look like gang members?''

The girls said Singletary, known as ``Chocolate,'' got angry because the youths had given him ``attitude.''

The girls said they all got into their girlfriend's car and were told to duck as they cruised the parking lot of the mall, with their lights off, searching for the group of youths.

Once they spotted them, the girls said they heard Williams say, ``You're not gangbangers, huh? Well, you're gangbangers now,'' before he fired several shots.

Shaolian was killed and his friend, Mehdi Sina of West Hills, was hit in the leg and buttocks.

Defense attorneys for Williams and Singletary did not put on defenses for their clients, and instead cited the lack of evidence the prosecution had, including that no prints were ever taken from the murder weapon, a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

In their closing arguments, the defense attorneys essentially blamed each other's client for ``orchestrating'' the shooting. Nameth said the girls ``were not telling the whole truth'' and cited discrepancies in their testimony.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 18.