Teens Indicted in Slaying of College Student

The Ventura County Grand Jury indicted two teenagers Tuesday on murder charges in the stabbing of a 24-year-old Moorpark College student outside a party in midtown Ventura three months ago.

Robert Don Imes and Vincent Ryan Gatica, both 19, did not enter pleas to the charges contained in the indictment--the first handed down by the grand jury in nearly a year.

But both men have previously declared themselves innocent in the July 21 slaying of Robert Bankston, who died on a blood-stained sidewalk from stab wounds suffered in a brawl.

Imes, who faces an additional charge of attempted murder for allegedly seriously injuring a second man in the fight, has said the stabbing was in self-defense.

“Basically, he was being attacked by two guys,” said Barry O. Bernstein, a Century City attorney who is representing Imes. Bernstein said he asked prosecutors to read a written statement he prepared to the grand jury explaining his client’s version of the attack.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said she did present that statement during two days of grand jury testimony. The panel returned the indictment Monday afternoon, and the charges were given to the defendants Tuesday morning.

Police said the slaying occurred as Bankston and his friend, Joseph Morgan, 22, of Oxnard, were leaving a party at the Villa Laurel Apartments on North Laurel Street in Ventura.

As they walked toward the beach, Imes approached the pair and began a fistfight, police said. Morgan and Bankston tried to calm Imes before wrestling him to the ground, police said, adding that Gatica came upon the scene and tried to assist Imes.

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It was at that point, authorities said, that Imes allegedly went on a “stabbing frenzy,” wounding Bankston and Morgan repeatedly.

Bankston was stabbed in his face and back. Morgan was stabbed in the chest, but walked to a nearby convenience store where he found a doctor buying ice cream who gave him first aid, police said.

Bernstein said Tuesday that the brawl was not initiated by his client, or Gatica, who turned themselves into authorities in August. Both men, who live in Ventura, also were stabbed in the scuffle.

Fox declined to discuss the case.

“I don’t know if I really want to get into the facts,” she said.

Fox also would not comment on why prosecutors decided to take the case before the grand jury rather than proceed to a preliminary hearing in Municipal Court.

Bernstein said it suggests the district attorney’s office may be worried about the strength of its case.

“My own experience is that cases like this one are taken to the grand jury so witness testimony can be developed without cross-examination from the defense,” said Bernstein, adding that prosecutors may have wanted to avoid addressing the self-defense issues in his client’s case.

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The matter had been set for a preliminary hearing Tuesday, in which prosecutors were expected to lay out their case through a variety of witnesses. But the hearing was unnecessary because of the grand jury indictment.

Now, the two men must be arraigned on the indictment and a trial date set.

Bernstein and Oxnard attorney David Callahan, who is representing Gatica, on Tuesday requested a four-week postponement of the arraignment, where the men will enter pleas.

The lawyers said they needed additional time to review the testimony of about 10 witnesses called before the grand jury over two days last week. An arraignment is set for Nov. 6.

Bankston was a 1992 graduate of Camarillo High School, who attended Moorpark College. Imes and Gatica attended Nordhoff High School in Ojai.

The current county grand jury has been seated since July 1 and this was its first murder indictment. Before that, two Los Angeles County men were indicted in October 1997 on charges of murder, torture, kidnapping, grand theft, arson, threatening witnesses and violating a court order in the grisly killing of Anthony Guest of Redondo Beach, whose beaten and burned body was dumped in a remote corner of Ventura County.