OXNARD : Judge Refuses to Lower Suspect’s Bail

A Ventura County judge refused Monday to lower the bail of a longtime county maintenance worker who is in custody on a murder charge, saying the man has a criminal history.

Bail for Steven Rodriguez, a 46-year-old Oxnard resident who has worked 16 years for Ventura County, should be reduced because the killing was the result of a bar fight started by the victim, defense attorney James M. Farley said.

Farley also said Rodriguez would lose his job later this month if not given an opportunity to make bail.

“He’s not a danger to the community,” Farley argued. “The aggressor in this case was the victim.”

But Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele ruled that two prior felony convictions made Rodriguez a threat to the public.

Rodriguez was convicted and served a prison term for a 1971 slaying in Los Angeles, and was found guilty in 1987 of illegally discharging a firearm, Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison said.

Rodriguez is accused in the latest case of stabbing to death 45-year-old Raymond Caballero of Oxnard outside the Casbah lounge in Oxnard June 18.

Rodriguez’s nephew, Alfred Aguirre, was arrested with Rodriguez the night of the slaying, but prosecutors last week declined to pursue a murder charge against the 21-year-old.

Ellison told Steele that bail for Rodriguez should remain at $250,000 because “the victim was driving away from the scene” when Rodriguez hit the car with a tire iron moments before the stabbing.