Theft to Get Beer Money Cited as Motive in Transient’s Slaying

Beer money was the motive behind the murder of one transient and the attack on another last year by two Pacoima brothers, a prosecutor told San Fernando Superior Court jurors Monday.

Miguel Rendon, 20, and Salvador Rendon, 21, are charged with murder in the March 7, 1987, stabbings. The Rendons are accused of killing Arcadeo Camacho, 27, and attempting to murder Jorge Landeros, 33. The brothers are also charged with two counts of attempted robbery, one count of robbery and one count of assault, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels.

The Rendons admitted to police that they planned “to go roll some winos” and had punched and hit the men, Samuels told the jury. After the incident, the men went to a party, she said.

Landeros, who was stabbed in the chest, wrist and face, testified Monday that he and Camacho were in a makeshift lean-to where Camacho lived at Laurel Canyon and Van Nuys boulevards when three young men yelled at them to come out and threatened to kill them.

“They came up attacking us with a knife,” Landeros said.

Landeros testified that the young men threw bottles at them, then Miguel Rendon stabbed Camacho in the stomach. Salvador Rendon then ordered Landeros to hand over his money. As he reached in his pockets to hand over $35, Landeros said, Salvador Rendon stabbed him several times.

Although the two defendants are being tried together, separate juries are sitting in each case. Because both defendants made statements to the police incriminating themselves and each other, testimony about the confessions can only be heard by the jury for the defendant who made the statements, Samuels said.

The trial is expected to continue through Thursday.

The third assailant, a 14-year-old Pacoima youth, was sentenced June 1, 1987, to the California Youth Authority for his part in the attack.