Testimony Ends in Murder Trial
After just three days of testimony, a Ventura County jury heard closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of a 25-year-old Fillmore resident accused of murdering a man during a fight.
Jaime Arias fled to Mexico after fatally shooting 19-year-old Richard Macias Jr. and severely injuring Macias’s brother during a brawl at a house in Santa Paula in January 1997.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Ellison urged jurors to find Arias guilty of second-degree murder, attempted murder and other charges.
Ellison argued it was unreasonable for Arias to have fatally shot Macias in the back after Macias ran from the fight. He added it was clearly an act of attempted murder when Arias turned the gun on the victim’s brother, Jesse Duenas.
But Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher told jurors Arias was scared by Macias and other men at the house and was convinced they would grab the gun and kill him.
“He is frightened, he is panicked,” Asher argued. “He thinks his life is in danger.”
Asher urged the jury to find his client guilty of voluntary manslaughter and not murder.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
