Witness Tells How Botched Robbery Led to Killing at Ojai New Year’s Party

One friend had just been shot in the foot, John P. Shine testified. Another had been pistol-whipped.

Now the two ski-masked robbers who had burst into an Ojai house and ordered everyone to lie on the floor were threatening to blow a woman’s brains out, Shine said.

“I figured if we didn’t fight for our lives, more people would be shot,” Shine testified Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, where two men are being tried on murder and robbery charges stemming from the Jan. 1 incident.

Shine said the opportunity came when one of the intruders dragged Melody Hatcher, a resident of the house, past Shine’s prone body. Shine said he grabbed the butt of the intruder’s pistol and a struggle ensued.

“He’s got me. Shoot him,” the intruder yelled to his companion, according to Shine. But instead of firing, the other ski-masked man hit Shine on the back of the neck with the end of a rifle, Shine testified.

Shine said he turned and pushed the rifle barrel away. “I was on my knees, the rifle barrel in one hand and the pistol barrel in the other,” Shine said. “I called for help.”

August Howard, lying nearby, tried to push the pistol away and it went off, striking him. Shine wrested away the handgun and fled to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, guest Billie Joe Gregory grabbed the rifle and fired, striking both of the ski-masked men.

Ron Brown, 22, was killed, and Frank Stoddard, 28, was wounded.

Stoddard and Timothy Antonelli, 24, who together allegedly planned the botched robbery, are being tried for murder in Brown’s death. Although Gregory pulled the trigger, prosecutors say the defendants’ conduct prompted the killing.

Shine was one of the three men who testified Monday about the party, which was described as an impromptu New Year’s Eve celebration that began after the bars closed.

Soon after he arrived about 2:30 a.m., Shine said, he called a friend in Ventura and asked her to bring some marijuana. The friend declined, he said, but soon afterward Antonelli called and said he would bring the pot.

Howard testified that he was drinking whiskey at the kitchen table when a knock sounded at the door about 6 a.m. Hatcher welcomed Antonelli, Howard said, but before she could close the door, two masked men burst into the house.

“I thought it was a joke,” Howard said. “I was laughing.”

Howard lost his right eye and suffered nerve damage to his arm in the gunfire.

Another witness, John Schommer, said he turned his pockets inside out to show one of the intruders that he had no money. He was kicked in the head and shot in the foot.

Shine said he had been in the bathroom, preparing to snort a methamphetamine stimulant, when he heard a commotion outside. Then one of the intruders--identified by prosecutors as Brown--broke down the bathroom door and ordered him into the living room with the other guests.

The other intruder, identified by prosecutors as Stoddard, said, “These people don’t believe we’re serious here,” Shine testified. “That’s when John Schommer got shot in the foot.”

Shine said Antonelli and Hatcher were crouched by the front door--Antonelli apparently pretending not to know the intruders. Shine said Stoddard grabbed Hatcher by the hair and said he was going to blow her brains out. “Her legs were like Jell-O,” Shine said, as Stoddard dragged her past him and he grabbed for the gun.

In spite of the seriousness of the case, the witnesses’ testimony often provoked laughter during the trial. In trying to determine if Shine was intoxicated, for example, Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Glynn asked the witness if he had drunk alcohol after arriving at the house.

“At 3 a.m., we drank a toast out of Melody’s shoe,” he replied.

“Very much?” Glynn asked.

“No. It tasted awful.”