OXNARD : Man Convicted of Murdering Father

After a one-day, non-jury trial, an Oxnard man was found guilty of second-degree murder in the Memorial Day slaying of his father.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch announced his verdict only seconds after hearing the evidence against Jesus G. Garcia Jr.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson said testimony and other evidence showed that Garcia, 31, became angry with his father on the evening of May 25, that he took a knife from the kitchen of the family’s Birch Street home and that he stabbed Jesus Garcia Sr. in the stomach as the father sat in a living room chair.

“It was not premeditated, but it was an intentional killing,” Nelson said.

Deputy Public Defender Douglas W. Daily did not dispute Nelson’s assessment, except to argue that she had not proven that the son was angry.

Next week, the trial will enter its second phase. Daily will try to prove that his client, who by all accounts has a history of schizophrenia, was insane at the time of the crime.

If Garcia is found to have been insane, he will be housed in a mental hospital until a judge finds that he has regained his sanity. If Storch does not rule that he was insane, Garcia faces a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.