3 Men From Ventura Indicted in Slaying : Crime: The gang-related stabbing occurred on the first night of Santa Barbara’s annual Fiesta Days in August. The victim was 16.

Three young Ventura men have been indicted in the gang-related killing of a 16-year-old boy during Santa Barbara’s Fiesta Days celebration in August.

The indictments, returned last week by the Santa Barbara County grand jury, allege that Benjamin Huerta, 18, Gregory Dominguez, 19, and Ricardo Cervantes, 20, took part in the Aug. 5 stabbing of Robert Mitchum.

In addition to the murder charge, the three are accused of committing a felony in conjunction with gang activity, said Ronald Zonen, chief trial deputy for the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office.

Santa Barbara police investigators say the three suspects--as well as two Ventura juveniles who also have been charged in the case--are affiliated with the Ventura Avenue Gangsters. Sworn statements filed by police investigators give this account of the incident:

As the five youths walked down State Street on the first night of the annual festival, they encountered the victim, his 14-year-old brother and another youth who were heading in the opposite direction.

Someone in the victim’s group yelled “Eastside,” referring to a Santa Barbara gang. A member of the other group yelled “Ventura.” The five Ventura youths turned and confronted the three Santa Barbara teen-agers.

Robert Mitchum was struck in the back of the head and fell to the ground. Four members of the Ventura group surrounded him and punched him while he was down, according to the investigators’ affidavits, while the fifth youth brandished a knife to prevent Robert’s group from coming to his aid.

Then the fifth youth stabbed Robert in the chest and back as the victim lay on the ground, investigators said. The knife pierced Robert’s heart and lung and he died soon afterward, according to the sworn statements.

The affidavits were filed to obtain warrants to search the suspects’ homes as well as the residences of 10 other suspected Ventura Avenue Gangsters. Investigators said they seized letters, photographs and other evidence.

Zonen said Monday that Dominguez is being held without bail because he is believed to have been the stabber. Bail of $250,000 each has been set for Cervantes and Huerta. All three men are being held in the Santa Barbara County Jail, while the two juveniles are being held in the county’s youth facility.

In an interview with investigators, Dominguez admitted brandishing a knife but said he did not remember a stabbing, according to the affidavits.

Witnesses told police that several members of the Ventura group had knives, and police found three knives at the scene, one of which bore blood, according to one of the search warrant affidavits.

Dominguez has had 24 “contacts or arrests” by Ventura police since October, 1987, according to Ventura police records cited in the affidavits. Huerta has had 15 contacts or arrests since December, 1988, and Cervantes has had eight contacts or arrests since April, 1989, according to the affidavits.

One of the juveniles had 42 such contacts while the other had 25, the affidavits say.

Dominguez and Huerta appeared in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Monday but their arraignment was postponed until Nov. 23 while their attorneys await copies of the grand jury transcript. Cervantes is due in court today, and his attorney said he also will seek an arraignment delay.