Oxnard Man Pleads Guilty in Murder Case

An Oxnard gang member accused of murdering another man after forcing his way into the sleeping victim’s house in the middle of the night pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder and now faces 15 years to life in prison.

The plea by Joseph Leon Samuel, 25, comes two weeks after a judge ordered him to stand trial for the March 22 murder of 24-year-old Anthony Pech.

Prosecutors said that Samuel and another man broke into Pech’s home on Helm Drive and shot the victim as he investigated the break-in.

Samuel was allowed to enter a plea to second-degree murder because prosecutors were not sure a jury would find him guilty of a more serious crime, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes.

Holmes said the investigation of the second man who allegedly went into the house is continuing.

“We had some proof problems,” Holmes acknowledged of the case against Samuel. “We felt that, all things considered, it would be in the public-safety interest to have him convicted of [ second-degree ] murder instead of a chance of . . . something lower.”

Samuel’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom, said that his client was not the triggerman but was at the scene of the crime. He said that Samuel did not want to risk being convicted of a more serious offense at trial.