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Man Pleads to Lesser Charge in Slaying of Boss : El Rio: D.A. says the victim ran a cult-like operation. The defendant receives expressions of sympathy.

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

An El Rio man accused of murdering his boss was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter Wednesday and will probably escape a prison sentence because, in the prosecutor’s words, “there aren’t too many people as bad” as the killer’s victim.

In an extraordinary move, prosecutors not only reduced the charge against Charles W. Bothwell but also failed to allege that a gun was used in the crime, allowing the defendant to get the lightest possible sentence.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris confirmed for the first time that the victim in the shooting--Robert Allen Foster, 41, of El Rio--ran a cult-like operation in which he terrorized members to keep them from leaving and sexually abused women and children over a number of years.

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Bothwell learned of Foster’s sexual abuse of two teen-agers for the first time on Sept. 5 and, fearful that his own daughter might someday be victimized, shot Foster in the head later that day, officials said.

Asked if the plea arrangement sent a message to the community that it is permissible to kill bad people, Kossoris replied: “I don’t know if I’d put it quite that way, but (Foster) won’t be missed.”

“He was a very, very threatening, overpowering monster,” Patrick Owen of Oxnard said of Foster. “We all felt it. We all wanted to (kill him) ourselves.”

Dressed in his blue jail uniform, Bothwell softly answered “yes” several times when asked if he understood the consequences of his guilty plea. Although the plea form signed by Bothwell says the maximum possible sentence is 11 years in prison, Kossoris announced in court that his office would recommend probation, possibly including a one-year jail sentence.

Normally a felony involving a gun carries an automatic prison sentence. Kossoris said outside court that his office purposely did not allege the use of a gun in the criminal charges so Bothwell would be eligible for probation.

Several supporters of Bothwell appeared in court Wednesday for the guilty plea and some of them cried when his bail was lowered from $250,000 to $10,000.

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“There is no better person than him,” said Kim Owen, wife of Patrick Owen and manager of MC Auctions in El Rio, where Bothwell worked as a handyman. “He has no enemies whatsoever.”

Owen said she planned to bail Bothwell out of jail Wednesday afternoon with money contributed by a number of people.

Foster ran MC Auctions, as well as Chuck’s Records and Tapes in Santa Paula, and the Ventura Starvation Center, a thrift store at 2280 E. Main St. The slaying occurred at the thrift store.

Kossoris said his office decided to reduce the murder charge to manslaughter after Ventura police completed their investigation and concluded that Foster had engaged in “a lengthy pattern of criminal and anti-social behavior” that included years of sexual offenses and violence against his employees at the three businesses and their families.

Foster was able to continue his reign of terror by threatening his victims with death to themselves or their families if they left or reported his behavior to police, the prosecutor said.

“They were able to leave but they were terrified to leave,” Kossoris said of Foster’s employees.

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Foster had convictions for arson, burglary, false imprisonment and grand theft, and in 1980 he was sentenced to prison for eight years. Bothwell, on the other hand, had no convictions other than for traffic violations, prosecutors said.

Deputy Public Defender Susan R. Olson said she was approached by prosecutors, who offered to reduce the charge against Bothwell. Olson said that based on what she knew of Foster, she believed from the beginning that the appropriate charge was voluntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors had even more damaging information about Foster than she did at that time, Olson said.

“I’d say he’s the most evil person I’ve ever come in contact with,” she said.

Olson said Bothwell is disturbed at the thought that he killed someone and she fears he will carry that burden for the rest of his life.

“I think he’s struggling now with the thought he might have done something else, but he didn’t see it then--I’m not sure he sees it now,” Olson said.

Kossoris said Bothwell urged one of the girls who had been sexually abused by Foster to tell police, and it was only when the girl refused to do so that he killed Foster, the prosecutor said.

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Kossoris said he does not believe a jury would have convicted Bothwell of murder, based on the mitigating factors.

“This case is pretty unique,” Kossoris said. “There aren’t too many people as bad as Robert Foster, but I think the message here is we tried to achieve a just result.”

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch is scheduled to sentence Bothwell Nov. 5.

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