OXNARD : Man Gets 21 Years for 4 Felonies

A judge sentenced a longtime county maintenance worker and convicted felon to 21 years in state prison for, among other crimes, fatally stabbing a patron outside an Oxnard bar last summer.

Steven Rodriguez, 46, was given six years for the stabbing death of Raymond Caballero, 45, of Oxnard.

Judge Allan L. Steele also gave the defendant five years each for three previous felony convictions on his record since the early 1970s--a robbery, a murder and a shooting attack on an inhabited dwelling.

“I think 21 years is appropriate,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison.

Rodriguez was originally charged with second-degree murder in the June 18 stabbing of Caballero. But a Ventura County jury convicted him of the lesser charge because the killing occurred during a sudden argument, authorities said.