Prosecutor Seeks Murder Conviction in Fatal Stabbing

An Oxnard man who was fatally stabbed outside a bar in June should not have gotten out of his car to fight with a man who had a jack handle in his hand and a knife in his pocket, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison still asked a jury in Superior Court to convict longtime county maintenance worker Steven Rodriguez, 46, of murder in connection with the stabbing.

He said the victim, Raymond Caballero, 45, was only defending himself when Rodriguez plunged the knife three times into Caballero’s back and once into one of his wrists.

Ellison said in opening statements that the two men were attending a party at the Casbah Lounge when the June 18 incident occurred.

The prosecutor conceded that Caballero appears to have started an argument that caused him and Rodriguez to be ejected from the bar earlier in the evening.

But he said both of them calmed down and were readmitted into the establishment. Forty-five minutes later, however, they were bickering once more.

Security guards, Ellison said, escorted Caballero and a female companion outside. He said Rodriguez and his nephew, Alfred Aguirre, 21, followed the couple.

Before the guards could summon police, Caballero and Rodriguez both pulled out knives, Ellison said. He said Caballero and the woman eventually got into Caballero’s car and were attempting to leave when Rodriguez approached the car and repeatedly beat on it with a jack handle.

He said witnesses will testify that the victim picked up a 2-by-4 board and hit Rodriguez, “causing him to drop the jack handle.”

Rodriguez pulled a knife and stabbed Caballero with it, Ellison said. Caballero struggled to get back in his car, the prosecutor said, but Rodriguez and Aguirre beat the wounded man.

Defense attorney James M. Farley did not give an opening statement Tuesday.