Drive-By Case Expected to Go to Jury Today

After nearly three weeks of testimony, a Ventura County Superior Court jury is expected to begin deliberations today in the drive-by slaying of Jennifer Jordan of Thousand Oaks.

Scott M. Kastan, 19, of Westlake Village and Patrick H. Strickland, 23, of Thousand Oaks are charged with the murder of Jordan, 20, who was shot and killed May 31 outside the Houston Drive house where she was living. The defendants also are charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill two men seconds before Jordan was shot.

The motive, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn, was revenge. He said both defendants are gang members who wanted to settle old scores with a rival gang based on Houston Drive. Gang members were known to hang out at the house, according to trial testimony, although the victim was not a gang member.

Strickland’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joseph P. VillaSana, will make his summation to the jury today. As outlined Monday by Glynn and Kastan’s attorney, James Edward Blatt, the case comes down to a few key issues:

* Who fired the shots?

Glynn said it was undoubtedly Kastan. Two witnesses testified that the gunman who stood up through the sunroof of the drive-by car was a thin white man with a long neck: a description that fits Kastan, Glynn said.

Both witnesses said Strickland--a stocky, light-skinned black--was not the gunman. Blatt, however, said the witnesses’ initial statements were far less definite and he questioned whether they could see much on the dark street. He charged that investigators had improperly influenced one of the witnesses by showing him a photo lineup in which Kastan was the only white man with a skinny neck.

“Why was there no lineup with Strickland?” Blatt asked the jury. “We’re talking about putting a person away for the rest of his life based on this ID.”

Blatt reminded the jury that two women in the front seat of the drive-by car initially told investigators that they thought Strickland had fired the shots and later said they were unsure. Blatt accused investigators of making up their minds early on that Kastan was the shooter and stubbornly refusing to consider evidence to the contrary.

* Was the shooting premeditated?

To convict either defendant of first-degree murder, the jury must find that the killing was premeditated. As evidence of such forethought, Glynn showed the jury blown-up copies of two letters that Kastan allegedly wrote to fellow gang members about a month before the slaying.

In one, referring to the Houston Drive gang, Kastan wrote: “Who’s gonna be crazy enough to shoot them?” Kastan then gave his own nickname, according to trial testimony.

“This is a statement of intent,” Glynn told the jury. “The fact is, he did exactly what he said he was going to do in these letters.”

Blatt, however, urged the jury to ignore things that happened weeks before the crime.

“Haven’t you ever expressed anger at someone?” Blatt said, looking at the jurors. The night of the shooting, he said, the defendants and the two women apparently happened to cruise by the Houston Drive home and “somebody asked to use the sunroof and a shooting occurred.”

“Where is the deliberative process” needed to establish premeditation? Blatt asked. “If anything, this is second-degree murder.”

* Whatever the shooter did, did the other defendant aid and abet the crime?

No matter who fired the fatal shot, Glynn said, the other man is just as guilty of first-degree murder if he knew what the other intended and helped carry out the crime.

It was Strickland, Glynn said, who asked to use the sunroof seconds before the shots were fired and who shouted an expletive as Kastan bellowed the name of their gang. When one of the women asked why people were shooting at the car, Glynn said it was Strickland who replied: “They weren’t shooting at us, we were shooting at them.”

Blatt said that evidence simply bolsters his assertion that Strickland fired the shots. If the jurors agree, they will then have to decide whether Kastan aided and abetted.

If convicted of first-degree murder, each defendant faces a mandatory term of 25 years to life in prison.