Ojai Man Gets 12-Year Term in Slaying at Party

An Ojai teen-ager who killed another teen with an ice pick during a fight at a party was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison after the prosecutor played a tape recording in which the defendant told police the victim deserved to die.

Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath gave Ryan Dale Burchell, 19, the maximum 11-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, then added a year because a deadly weapon was used to commit the crime.

McGrath said Burchell “displayed a high degree of viciousness and callousness” during the crime by stabbing 19-year-old Jasper Fitzgerald several times in the front and back of the body, including in the head and face.

Fitzgerald, an Ohio man who grew up in Ojai, died after his heart and liver were punctured during the altercation with Burchell at a party in Ojai in May. It was Ojai’s first homicide in more than two years.

Burchell, who originally was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, will be housed at the California Youth Authority until he is 25, when he will be transferred to a state prison.

His co-defendant, Anthony Peterson, 18, of Ventura, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison for his guilty plea to being an accessory to murder. Peterson hid the ice pick after the slaying.

Security was tight at Burchell’s sentencing hearing, which took place in front of a packed courtroom of friends and family of both the defendant and victim.

As part of his argument for the maximum sentence, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley played a portion of a tape-recorded interview Burchell had with sheriff’s detectives shortly after the slaying.

At times calling the victim by an obscene name, Burchell said he did not care that Fitzgerald died.

“(He) pushed me and socked me in the jaw,” Burchell said during the interview.

“And for that he deserved to die?” Detective Michael Barnes asked.

“Yeah,” Burchell answered.

“He deserved to die ‘cause he punched you?” Barnes asked again.

“Yeah. Is he . . . dead or is he still walkin’ around?” Burchell asked.

“No, he’s dead,” Barnes replied.

“OK,” Burchell said.

Deputy Public Defender Todd W. Howeth asked McGrath to impose the minimum prison sentence of three years, saying Burchell should not be punished as though he had committed a murder.

Frawley said outside court that his office agreed to accept the manslaughter plea because all the witnesses to the slaying were friends of Burchell’s and they supported the defendant’s statement that Fitzgerald started the fight.

Frawley said he did not believe that, however, because the victim had the smallest physical stature of anyone at the party.

“As manslaughters go, this is just incredibly aggravated,” Frawley said.

Deputy Probation Officer Evan Petrotti agreed, saying in his pre-sentencing report that a prison sentence was warranted in the case.

“This callous disregard for another human life is exemplified by (Burchell’s) decision to leave the party, knowing the victim lay several hundred feet away, bleeding to death, without making any attempt to summon medical help,” Petrotti wrote.

When the slaying occurred, Burchell was on bail in an unrelated case in which he is charged with possessing marijuana for sale. That case is still pending, with motions scheduled for a hearing next week, Deputy Dist. Atty. Isa Sawasaki said.

Burchell could be sentenced to two more years in prison, depending on the outcome of the marijuana case, attorneys said.