SIMI VALLEY : Man Pleads Not Guilty in Slaying

A Lake Hughes man pleaded not guilty Friday to the slaying of an unidentified man whose skeletal remains were discovered in Simi Valley last month.

Luis Roberto Benavidez, 39, entered the plea in Ventura County Superior Court after he was indicted Thursday by the Ventura County Grand Jury. Judge Lawrence Storch scheduled trial for May 18. Benavidez is being held at Ventura County Jail with bail set at $250,000.

Benavidez’s attorney, Ira S. Chester, said his client has been falsely accused by his ex-wife because she is jealous of Benavidez’s relationship with another woman.

“His ex-wife is trying to get him,” Chester said. “She went immediately to police after the victim’s body was discovered.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn declined to comment.

Benavidez was arrested March 20, soon after a hiker discovered the remains near the former Livingston Ranch on Tierra Rejada Road, where Benavidez worked until 1988. The county coroner’s office determined that the victim--a white or Latino man age 25 to 40--died of two gunshot wounds to the head, probably more than two years ago.

Chester said Benavidez’s ex-wife, Alicia Benavidez, told police that a relative of her husband’s told her that Luis Benavidez shot and killed the victim during a confrontation on the horse ranch.

After his arrest, Benavidez confessed to the slaying only because police threatened to put his girlfriend and their 2-year-old daughter in jail, Chester said. “It was a false confession,” the attorney said.

Chester said the district attorney’s decision to obtain a grand jury indictment instead of having a preliminary hearing indicates that the prosecution’s case is weak.

A preliminary hearing is conducted in public, and both the prosecution and the defense can present evidence to help a judge determine whether the defendant should stand trial in Superior Court. The grand jury makes the same determination, but in secret and after hearing only the prosecution’s case.

The choice of proceeding is up to the district attorney. Glynn said that in homicide cases his office usually decides to go with the grand jury.