Suspect Arraigned in 1976 Slaying
The suspect in a 20-year-old murder case was arraigned in a Ventura County courtroom Tuesday, with the prosecutor saying that he plans to call on testimony from a man who has already served time for his part in the slaying.
Marcos Ortiz Jr., 40, is set to go on trial in the stabbing death of 21-year-old Luis Provincio in a 1976 brawl outside an Easter dance in Oxnard. After eluding police for years, Ortiz was caught by Oxnard officers in September after they responded to complaints that a man was beating his wife.
When officers booked Ortiz into jail on a domestic violence charge, a nationwide computer check showed an outstanding arrest warrant for murder, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes.
At Tuesday’s hearing before Municipal Judge Steven Hintz, Holmes said he plans to call as a witness Kelley Turner, who was sentenced to the California Youth Authority in the 1976 fight that left Provincio dead and another man injured.
Turner was charged with assault and murder, but was sentenced on a lesser charge, Holmes said. Ortiz apparently eluded police by heading to Mexico.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12, and Ortiz’s trial is set to begin Nov. 19.
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