Man Charged in Santa Paula Killing on Trial

Nineteen-year-old Richard Macias Jr. was fatally shot in the back as he ran from a fistfight at his ex-girlfriend’s house in Santa Paula nearly three years ago.

The alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jaime Arias of Fillmore, fled the scene--and then the country.

But now, after eluding arrest in Mexico for a year, Arias is facing murder charges in Ventura County Superior Court. He was caught by police in a desert town near Palm Springs in February 1998.

Arias’ lawyer contends that the defendant panicked and pulled his gun after Macias started a fight over the ex-girlfriend.

But prosecutors allege that Arias, now 25, chased Macias from the house and shot him in the back. They say he then turned the .22-caliber handgun on the victim’s brother, who was also at the house.

The defendant then allegedly stole Macias’ car and set it on fire alongside Santa Paula Creek before heading to Mexico. Arias is charged with murder, attempted murder, carjacking, robbery and arson.

Standing next to an enlarged photograph of the victim lying dead on a sidewalk, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Ellison told jurors in his opening statement Thursday about the events leading up to the Jan. 3, 1997, shooting.

Macias, a Kmart employee and Santa Paula resident, was upset that his ex-girlfriend--and the mother of his 2-year-old son--was hanging out with her friends and not watching their child, the prosecutor said.

Macias and his brother, Jesse Duenas, drove to Annette Chavez’s house to talk to her. Leaving the car engine running, Macias walked into the house and an argument ensued.

Turning to Arias, who was visiting Chavez along with two friends--one male, one female--Macias ordered the defendant to leave and a fight broke out, Ellison said.

Duenas and another man joined the fight and when Arias pulled a gun, Macias ran, the prosecutor told jurors.

“He chased Richard Macias out the door and somewhere outside he shoots him,” Ellison said.

When Duenas tried to stop Arias from driving away in his brother’s car, Arias fired at least three shots into Duenas and took off, Ellison said. The car was later found burned by the riverbed.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher told jurors in his opening remarks Thursday that there is no question that his client shot Macias and his brother, took the car and burned it.

But Asher said his client did not commit murder.

“The level of culpability of Jaime Arias rises to no more than voluntary manslaughter,” Asher argued.

Prosecutors are asking for a second-degree murder conviction, which carries a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Voluntary manslaughter, however, is punishable by up to 11 years in prison.

Asher told jurors that Macias instigated the fight and that Arias grabbed his gun in a panic. “He acts rashly and impulsively,” Asher said. “He panics and that is where the gun comes in.”

Asher said most of the evidence in the trial--which is expected to last only a few days--will be presented by the prosecution, not the defense.

“There is nothing magical or tricky about this,” he said. “The main issue of contention is whether this is a murder or a manslaughter.”

Asher told jurors that some of the physical evidence in the case could not be relied upon, however, “because of the incompetent way the Santa Paula Police Department handled the evidence.”

Ellison acknowledged in his opening remarks that blood evidence in the case was mishandled. As a result, police were unable to distinguish Macias’ blood drops from his brother’s. And some shell casings were not recovered because emergency vehicles drove into the crime scene area, the prosecutor said. At the time the vehicles arrived, police had not yet roped off the scene.

The first witness to be called Thursday was Macias’ mother, Gloria Venegas. She tearfully recalled the last time she saw her son alive, telling jurors he walked out of her house to go for a drive and never returned. She said she had no idea he planned to visit Chavez.

Venegas said her son had been concerned about the “people Annette was hanging around with at the time.” At one point, Venegas blurted out--erroneously--that Arias was in a gang.

The remark was deleted from the court record at the order of Judge Ken Riley, who told jurors that it was untrue. Still, Asher called for a mistrial at the noon recess.

“I think that is such a prejudicial aspect it could taint everything the jury hears,” Asher argued. “It’s impossible to unring a bell like that.”

Riley denied the request.

Testimony is scheduled to resume this morning.