OXNARD : 2 Plead Not Guilty in Stabbing Death

Two men arrested last week on suspicion of murder after another man was stabbed to death outside an Oxnard bar pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Steven Rodriguez, a 46-year-old Oxnard resident who has worked as a custodian for Ventura County for the past 16 years, is accused of stabbing Raymond Caballero, 45, outside the Casbah lounge June 18. Rodriguez also faces special allegations that he used a deadly weapon and caused great bodily injuries.

Caballero died of stab wounds to the chest minutes after the 11 p.m. attack last Friday, police said.

Alfred Aguirre, 21, an unemployed Oxnard resident, was arrested with Rodriguez blocks away from the bar, but is not believed to have actually stabbed Caballero, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald C. Janes. However, Aguirre also faces the murder charge.

Janes told Judge Bruce A. Clark that there was “evidence indicating (the stabbing) may be gang-related” in asking that both defendants be held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail each.

Both defense attorneys--James M. Farley, who represents Rodriguez, and Victor Salas Jr., who will defend Aguirre--denied that their clients were involved in gangs.

Salas did concede that his client “had a gang-related conviction” stemming from a 1987 drive-by shooting on Ventura Avenue. Aguirre served three years in the California Youth Authority on that charge.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for July 8.