New Trial Is Denied in ’79 Oxnard Killing

A 36-year-old former Oxnard man who claims that he was mentally ill when he pleaded guilty to killing a bar bouncer will not be given a new trial, a Ventura County Superior Court judge has ruled.

Melecio Cardona, who has already served 12 years of a 15-years-to-life sentence, had asked Judge Lawrence Storch to grant a new trial.

Cardona claimed that he was mentally ill when he pleaded guilty in 1984 to shooting Valerio Castillo, 49. The victim was a bouncer at El Obrero Bar on 5th Street in Oxnard when he died in October, 1979.

Attorney Willard P. Wiksell, who represented Cardona in the case, testified that Cardona did not seem to have any unusual psychological problems at the time of the plea.

“He was not singing songs or banging his head against the wall,” Wiksell testified during the two-day hearing. “It (the plea) was his choice. He got a tremendous benefit.”

A psychologist also testified that he did not believe that Cardona suffered from psychological problems. Dr. Donald A. Patterson testified it was his opinion that Cardona just did not like prison.

“Mr. Cardona was very unhappy in prison,” Patterson said. “He didn’t like to share bunks and got into fights.”

Patterson said Cardona once spent two straight years in “the hole,” or solitary confinement.