OXNARD : Youth Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter

A 17-year-old Oxnard boy pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Monday in the shooting death of his stepfather Nov. 30.

The youth, who has not been identified because of his age, admitted that he killed Walter Bell, 43, shortly after learning that his mother had died of a gunshot wound. Investigators said that the boy was unaware that his mother, Regina Lewis, 42, had taken her own life and that he mistakenly believed that Bell had killed her.

“It’s a classic case of manslaughter,” said the youth’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Howard J. Asher. “I can’t think of a more heat-of-passion shooting.”

The tall, husky youth, who is a former Oxnard High School football star, had pleaded not guilty last week and changed his plea Monday before Superior Court Judge Robert C. Bradley. His grandparents, Fred and Iantha Jones of Oxnard, sat in the front row. The boy’s only statement was “yeah” as Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes posed a long list of questions aimed at making sure that he understood the consequences of his plea.

The boy’s case will remain in the Juvenile Court system, and the maximum penalty that he faces is commitment to the California Youth Authority until his 25th birthday. But the youth has no prior record, and Asher said he will seek probation at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 22.

“This is not a juvenile delinquent,” Asher said, adding that spending time with hardened offenders at the Youth Authority could only harm his client.

Holmes said prosecutors will not decide whether to oppose a probation request until a pre-sentencing investigation is complete.

In an unusual step, Asher has asked Santa Barbara County’s probation department to do the pre-sentence investigation. The Ventura County Corrections Services Agency normally does such reports, but it has a conflict of interest because Bell worked for the agency.

The youth remains free under his grandparents’ supervision.