Jury Told of Murder Defendant’s Spending Binge After Robbery : Courts: Prosecutor says Hector Garcia of Oxnard rented limo and visited strip club before fatally shooting Wayne Mansir. Defense calls the killing self-defense.

Oxnard murder defendant Hector Garcia spent portions of $187,000 from a grocery-store robbery on limousine rides and visits to a Hollywood strip club before fatally shooting an accomplice in a dispute over the money, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Calling the case a story of “extreme greed,” Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison opened the trial by asking jurors to convict the 22-year-old defendant of first-degree murder.

But Deputy Public Defender Richard E. Holly said his client is not guilty of murder in the death of Wayne Michael Mansir, 24, who was shot Sept. 29 in the Oxnard community of Mandalay Bay.

The defense attorney said there was “more going on” among Garcia, Mansir and several others alleged accomplices in the robbery than Ellison revealed.

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Still, Holly did not divulge his theory of the case and said outside court that he wants the jury to learn the facts during the course of the trial.

However, Holly said in an interview that his client robbed Smith’s Food & Drug Center at 2401 Saviers Road.

He also admitted that Garcia killed Mansir, a 1987 Oxnard High School graduate.

But Holly maintained that the shooting was in self-defense.

In court, he said: “The truth will reveal that Hector Garcia is not guilty of murder.”

Mansir was shot three times at close range in the living room of his family’s home in the 2500 block of Peninsula Road.

The grocery store was robbed 10 days earlier.

Prosecutors have charged Garcia with one count each of murder and robbery.

Authorities arrested Garcia nearly two months after Mansir’s slaying in San Bernardino County, on a tip from an anonymous caller.

Holly has maintained in previous court hearings that Mansir masterminded the robbery and that Mansir and Garcia became embroiled in a dispute over the proceeds.

Authorities never recovered any of the money.

For the first time Wednesday, Ellison publicly discussed what officials believe happened to the money.

Ellison told the jury that Garcia, wearing a green suit and carrying a briefcase, entered the store at 6 a.m. the morning of the robbery.

He stole the money and pretended to kidnap the dairy manager, David Lutizetti, the prosecutor said.

Ellison said police later learned that Lutizetti was an acquaintance of Garcia’s, although the prosecutor said Lutizetti “lied about knowing Garcia.”

With the cash from the robbery, Ellison said, Garcia went on a spending binge.

On Sept. 25 and 26, the defendant--using an alias--rented a white limousine, Ellison said.

Garcia and friends cruised Oxnard, Los Angeles and Hollywood, where they stopped at The Tropicana, a female dance and mud-wrestling club, Ellison said.

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The limo rides cost $900 a day and the driver will testify that Garcia and his friends counted large sums of money as they rode around, Ellison said.

“There was so much money going around in this limo it was being stored in a potato chip bag, a large potato chip bag,” Ellison said.

He also said Garcia made other cash purchases, including a Jeep Cherokee for his wife, Malai McDonald.

But “the real ugliness of this case” occurred Sept. 29, according to Ellison, when Mansir was shot.

Driving her new Jeep, Garcia’s wife drove to the Mansir home to get keys to another vehicle she owned, Ellison said.

Lutizetti, the dairy manager, met her at the door and pulled her into the home, the prosecutor said.

Along with Mansir’s brother, Steven, Lutizetti harassed the woman and her young child, saying her husband owed them money, Ellison said.

After several hours, they let her go. Frightened, the woman questioned her husband about the allegations made by Lutizetti and Mansir.

Garcia phoned Wayne Mansir that afternoon and the two of them argued, Ellison said.

About 7 p.m., Garcia arrived at the Mansir home brandishing a pistol, he said.

Ellison said that Eldred Harper, a friend of the Mansirs and Garcia, will testify that he opened the door of the Mansir home after Garcia knocked on it.

“Hector Garcia came in and drew a gun out of his waistband, and said, ‘Where’s Steve and Mike?’ ” according to Ellison.

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Harper fled, but heard three gunshots as he left, Ellison said. He said a Ventura County deputy coroner will also testify that Wayne Mansir was shot once each in the left chest, the right hand and the back of the head.

The head injury was fatal, Ellison said.

Holly said Ellison’s “star witness” is Eldred Harper, whom the defense attorney said will not be believable on the stand.

Harper has agreed to testify in the case in exchange for immunity from prosecution, Ellison told the jury.

“Eldred will be like a chameleon,” Holly said. “The story will change depending on whom he is talking to.”

He said the case involves a group of individuals with “blatant, self-interest operating to hide the truth.”

He also said the defense will call Lutizetti to the stand.

Lutizetti, no longer employed at Smith’s, will confirm that he and Harper knew each other before the robbery, Holly said.

“David and Eldred Harper are friends, were friends and have been friends with one another,” Holly said.