OXNARD : Man Is Found Guilty in Slaying, Robbery

A Superior Court jury convicted an Oxnard man Thursday of second-degree murder and robbery in connection with a shooting near Channel Islands Harbor last September and a robbery of a grocery store several weeks earlier.

Hector Garcia, 23, faces a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years to life in the death of Wayne Mansir, 24, of Mandalay Bay in Oxnard.

He also faces up to five more years in prison for using a firearm in the Sept. 29 slaying, as well as up to 12 additional years for robbing the Smith’s Food & Drug Center in Oxnard 10 days before the shooting.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison said Garcia would be eligible for parole in about 21 years if he receives the maximum sentences for the convictions.

Ellison had asked for a conviction of first-degree murder during his opening statements in the trial, but said Thursday that he is pleased with the verdict returned by the jury, which heard about three weeks of testimony.

“After talking to the jury and hearing how they reasoned through the facts of the case, I think they did a very conscientious job,” Ellison said. “I think it’s a very good verdict.”

Deputy Public Defender Richard E. Holly had claimed that Garcia shot Mansir in self-defense. Authorities say Garcia showed up at Mansir’s family home and pumped several bullets into the victim. The two had been friends, but Holly said they argued over proceeds from the Smith’s robbery--which totaled $187,000--and Mansir’s physical abuse of Garcia’s wife and child, hours before the shooting.

Holly also told the jury that Mansir had a gun when he was shot, although police never found a weapon. Authorities also never found any of the loot from the robbery, and Garcia refused to say what happened to it when he testified during the trial.

Ellison has said some of the money was spent on visits to a Hollywood strip club, limousine rides and other entertainment.