4 Testify in Penalty Hearing of Convicted Killer

The penalty hearing for convicted murderer Kenneth McKinzie came to a close Thursday after testimony from four final witnesses. Closing arguments in the capital case are scheduled for Monday.

McKinzie, 39, was found guilty of first-degree murder last week in the beating and strangulation of Ruth Avril, 73. The jury also found that the slaying occurred during an attempted robbery and burglary at her south Oxnard home.

Those findings, paired with a murder conviction, advanced the case to a penalty stage in which the jury will recommend whether McKinzie should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole.

On Thursday, prosecutors called to the stand a 55-year-old woman who said she was attacked by McKinzie outside an Oxnard bank during an attempted robbery 15 years ago. Maria Garcia told the jury that she is still so traumatized by the June 15, 1983, incident that she refuses to keep money in a bank.

“I am afraid it could happen again,” Garcia testified. She told the jury that she could not sleep for months after McKinzie grabbed her, pushed her into her car and tried to rip her purse out of her hands.

“I got so scared,” she said, “so scared that I can’t sleep at night. I had so much fear in my heart.”

A man who said he saw the attack also testified Thursday. Robert Wardlaw told the jury he chased the attacker after seeing him accost Garcia and her sister.

In other testimony, a former Ventura County Jail inmate, Joel Epperson, testified that McKinzie stole his candy and then threatened to kill him while the pair were incarcerated in 1994.

Epperson admitted on cross-examination, however, that his memory of the incident is poor. He was unable to identify McKinzie in court Thursday but told authorities in 1994 that McKinzie attacked him.

In addition to presenting evidence about McKinzie’s criminal history, prosecutors called Avril’s neighbor of 19 years, Maria Aragon, to tell jurors more about her.

Avril had lived alone in an upstairs apartment with a cat named Whitey. She loved baking, gardening and was an avid reader, Aragon said. But mostly, she was a kind person who never forgot to send friends Christmas cards.

“That’s how I remember her,” she said.