Newbury Park : Slain Youth’s Father Faces Trial in Threat

A Newbury Park man has been ordered by a Municipal Court judge to stand trial for allegedly threatening to murder a Ventura County deputy district attorney.

Charles Flores, 48, believed that Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes botched cases against three men charged with beating to death his 19-year-old son at a party in January, 1989, prosecutors said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald C. Janes, supervisor in charge of the major crimes and narcotics division, testified in a preliminary hearing last week that Flores’ threats took place during two telephone calls on Feb. 6.

During the first conversation, Janes testified, Flores said: “I’m at my wit’s end. I’ve had enough of you people. I’m coming after you.”

Janes testified that Flores then told him that the evening before he had taken his gun to a parking lot and waited for Holmes to come out of a building.

“He sounded dead serious,” Janes said. “I was very concerned. I believed he might try to murder Mr. Holmes.”

During the preliminary hearing, a 15-minute tape-recording was played of the second telephone conversation, in which Flores said he intended to seek retribution against the district attorney’s office.

“I don’t care how long it takes. I’m going to put you down,” Flores told Janes, according to the tape. “If it’s through politics, the media, I don’t care if I have to hire someone to blow the building to Santa Barbara.”

Municipal Judge Thomas Hutchins ordered Flores to stand trial in two weeks on a felony count of threatening great bodily injury or death and a misdemeanor count of making a telephone call with the intent to annoy or threaten or inflict injury.

The felony count is punishable by a year in jail or a state prison term of 16 months to three years. The misdemeanor is punishable with a maximum of one year in jail.

John Flores, 19, was killed on Jan. 20, 1989, after he arrived uninvited at a party in Newbury Park. He was asked to leave three times but refused, authorities said. A witness said another party-goer grabbed Flores by the hair and slammed his head against the pavement. Flores died that night as a result of brain injuries.

It was determined that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute one man. A jury acquitted another man of manslaughter charges. And another man was convicted of aggravated assault, spent 90 days in the Ventura County Jail and received five years’ probation.