OXNARD : Boy Recants Story in Murder Case

An Oxnard teen-ager who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony in a murder case refused in court Thursday to place blame on the defendant, a man the witness says he loves as a brother.

The 15-year-old admitted during a preliminary hearing that in earlier statements to police he implicated Joseph L. Samuel, 25, of Oxnard in the March 22 slaying of Anthony Pech.

But the boy said he made those statements reluctantly and only in an effort to stop police from bothering him.

“ ‘Cause I knew that’s what they wanted to hear, and they told me they would leave me alone after I told them what they wanted to hear,” he testified.

Samuel is charged with the murder of Pech, who was shot in the face about 2:30 a.m. in his home in a neighborhood near the Channel Islands Harbor.

The teen-ager was living with Samuel at the time of the slaying.

He testified that he and Samuel left a friend’s apartment with two other males to go to the store, but instead they drove to Pech’s house. Samuel and his cousin, Chris Samuel, then got out of the car and went along the side of the house until they disappeared from sight, the youth said.

He testified that Chris Samuel was carrying a shotgun as he approached the house. In an interview with police last month, the teen-ager said Joseph Samuel was holding the weapon.

The youth testified that while he and the fourth male waited at the car, he heard knocking followed by the sound of a door being kicked in. A gunshot rang out seconds later, and after Joseph and Chris Samuel returned to the car, they hastily drove away from the area, he said.

The teen-ager said he thought Pech was going to be robbed because in an earlier conversation, Chris Samuel had talked about the victim as a rich drug dealer who should be held up.