OXNARD : Jury to Weigh Lesser Charge in Slaying
A jury Wednesday acquitted an Oxnard man of murder in connection with the Christmas Day stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend’s son but has not reached a decision on a lesser homicide charge.
The Ventura County Superior Court jury will continue deliberating the fate of 32-year-old Jose Jimenez this morning, attorneys said.
Prosecutors charged Jimenez with murder in the stabbing death of Isaias Guerrero Morales, 21, who was knifed last December in the yard of his family’s Campbell Way home.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris asked the jury to convict Jimenez of second-degree murder, saying the victim was killed while trying to escort Jimenez off the family’s property.
Jimenez’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joseph P. Villasana, told jurors during the weeklong trial that the victim was stabbed only after attacking Jimenez.
After deliberating for 1 1/2 days, the jury returned the not guilty verdict on the second-degree murder charge. But jurors also told Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch that they were deadlocked 10 to 2 on voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge. They did not say if they favored acquittal or conviction on the charge. Manslaughter is punishable by up to 11 years in prison.
Storch ordered the jurors to continue deliberating, although about half of them told the judge that they did not believe a decision could be reached.
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