OXNARD : Trial Begins for Man Accused in Slaying

An Oxnard man should be convicted of second-degree murder because he fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend’s son on Christmas Day after the victim tried to persuade the defendant to leave his family’s yard, a prosecutor said during opening statements of the murder trial Wednesday.

But a defense attorney said Jose Jimenez stabbed 21-year-old Isaias Guerrero in self-defense after Guerrero “kept hitting him like a machine.”

Deputy Public Defender Joseph P. Villasana told the jury during his opening remarks that he planned to prove that Jimenez is not guilty of murder.

Jimenez, 32, has been held at Ventura County Jail since Dec. 25, when Guerrero was stabbed in the yard of his family’s Campbell Way home around 3 a.m.

The trial is being conducted before Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter Kossoris told the jury that Guerrero and other family members--including his mother, Graciela Guerrero--were celebrating during the early morning hours Christmas Day.

He said Jimenez showed up at the house uninvited and walked inside. Graciela Guerrero had recently broken off their relationship because “she was upset that he was drunk too often,” Kossoris said. The prosecutor said Jimenez left after being told that he was not welcome, but he came back around 3 a.m., throwing a rock at the house.

Kossoris said Isaias Guerrero was stabbed three times in the chest after he and other men tried to escort Jimenez away from the property.

Villasana, however, said Guerrero confronted Jimenez and began attacking him.

“At that point, all hell breaks loose,” Villasana said. He said that was when Jimenez knifed the victim in self-defense.

Testimony continues this morning.