OXNARD : Defendant in Slaying Ordered to Stand Trial

A preliminary hearing for a 22-year-old Oxnard murder suspect ended Tuesday with a judge ordering the defendant to stand trial and deputies arresting the only witness to have testified during the day--the brother of the shooting victim.

Murder defendant Hector Garcia, 22, was bound over to Superior Court, where he will be arraigned Feb. 15 on charges of murder and robbery.

He is accused of fatally shooting 24-year-old Michael Wayne Mansir near Channel Islands Harbor.

Mansir’s older brother, Steven, was arrested after his testimony in the hearing. The arrest was for his failure to appear in court for a misdemeanor trial involving threats he allegedly made against an ex-girlfriend, according to authorities and court records.

A defense attorney said Michael Mansir was shot 10 days after Garcia robbed Smith’s Food and Drug Center in Oxnard. Deputy Public Defender Richard E. Holly said Mansir was a mastermind behind the holdup, which netted $187,000 that has not been recovered.

Holly said Michael Mansir and Garcia had a dispute over the robbery proceeds.

Steven Mansir, 29, took the stand Tuesday to testify that Garcia forced his way into the family’s Peninsula Road house Sept. 29 and shot his brother in the living room.

“I remember Hector came in in a hysterical manner, threatening at the top of his lungs, ‘I’m gonna blast,’ ” Mansir testified.

Mansir, who had failed to show up to testify previously, argued frequently with Holly from the stand.

Holly told the judge that Mansir had missed the court appearance in the case with the ex-girlfriend, and Mansir was arrested as soon as he got off the stand.

Jail officials had not yet booked Mansir, so no bail had been set.