Rape, Murder Trial Begins for Oxnard Man : Courts: D. A. says Frederick Lee Jackson ordered Genoveva Gonzales’ death. But the defense pleads innocence.

Prosecutors seeking the death penalty against an Oxnard man told a jury Monday that the defendant kidnaped and raped a mother of four, then ordered her death three years ago so he could not be identified.

In his opening statement, however, a defense lawyer denied that Frederick Lee Jackson of Oxnard either raped or instructed anyone to kill the woman.

Defense lawyer Charles Cassy also suggested that the prosecution’s star witness in the case--a former colleague of Jackson’s named Bobby Rollins--is the mastermind behind the shooting death of Genoveva Gonzales.

“Essentially, what you will conclude is that Bobby Rollins got away with a free murder,” the lawyer told the jury.

Two fishermen found Gonzales’ partially clad body, with three bullet wounds to the head, in a drainage ditch along Arnold Road on Jan. 26, 1992.

A Jackson co-defendant has already been convicted of first-degree murder for carrying out the shooting. That man, Christopher Sattiewhite of Oxnard, is on death row.

But now prosecutors want to send Jackson there as well, saying Sattiewhite shot the victim at Jackson’s behest. If they are successful, Jackson would become Ventura County’s first criminal defendant sent to death row for a crime in which he was not the actual murderer, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn said outside court.

*

For the death penalty to be considered, the jury would have to find him guilty of murder and either rape or kidnaping.

“Fred’s a very bad guy,” the prosecutor said. “I consider him a predator.”

Four months before the Gonzales murder, Jackson and Rollins raped a Thousand Oaks woman at an Oxnard beach while Sattiewhite held the woman’s boyfriend at gunpoint. The assailants also robbed the couple, who are now married and gave damaging testimony against Sattiewhite at his trial last year. All three were convicted of the crimes.

A muscular man who is serving 28 years in prison for the beach rape, Jackson stared away from Glynn on Monday as the prosecutor put forth his theory on the case--which he said is supported not only by Rollins but also by evidence such as DNA results and statements Sattiewhite made to friends and relatives.

Glynn told the jury that Gonzales, who was 4-foot-10 and 105 pounds, was picked up sometime after 10 p.m. the night of her death by Jackson and Sattiewhite, who was driving a Cadillac. Coroner’s officials will testify she died between 11:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. from the gunshot wounds, he said.

The two men took the victim to the Arnold Road location, where Jackson raped her as Sattiewhite stood outside the car, Glynn said. Rollins, who had agreed to meet Sattiewhite and Jackson at the area, showed up just as Jackson was pushing Gonzales’ limp body out of the car’s back seat, Glynn said.

*

Rollins drove past the men and went to turn his own car around when he heard three shots. Rollins, now 25, then saw Sattiewhite coming out of the drainage ditch, carrying a handgun, Glynn said.

The men pulled off, leaving Gonzales’ body where she was shot, Glynn said.

Glynn acknowledged that Rollins received immunity in exchange for his testimony. Rollins also will get 30 years taken off his sentence in the beach rape, which could have been as high as 50 years, Glynn said.

Defense attorney Cassy told the jury that Rollins is manipulating prosecutors and the criminal justice system.

He also said prosecutors have no evidence placing Jackson at the scene of the shooting, other than the word of Rollins.

Much of his opening statement was spent attacking Rollins, whom he called a sophisticated drug dealer. Cassy said that Jackson was a regular cocaine user and wine drinker who liked to hang around Sattiewhite and Rollins because they had access to drugs, money and women for sex.

“He may not know why Genoveva Gonzales was killed,” Cassy said of Jackson. “But Bobby Rollins knows why she was killed.

The lawyer suggested that Rollins is manipulating prosecutors and will lie to the jury.

“Mr. Rollins is really the guy in control” at the murder scene, Cassy said. “He’s also the guy who can control people.”

Cassy also chipped away at the character of the victim, noting that Gonzales had once been convicted for drug possession.

That is not a justification for her murder, he said, but it shows that she was involved in the drug culture.

“The evidence will not be enough to convict Fred Jackson of felony murder,” Cassy said.