Vazquez Prosecutors Rest Their Case

Ventura County prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the murder trial of Camarillo resident Jose Vazquez.

The defense is expected to call its remaining witnesses into Superior Court this morning, and the jury could get the case for deliberations as early as Monday.

Vazquez, 38, is charged with murder, attempted kidnapping, burglary and other crimes in connection with last summer’s fatal shooting of restaurant owner Felipe Arambula.

A Ventura resident, Arambula was killed during a fight with two men inside his Monte Vista Avenue house June 13, 1998. His wife and children were held captive for an hour before Arambula arrived home from work.

Prosecutors allege the two intruders, William David Hampton Jr. and Manuel Vasquez, were sent by Jose Vazquez to kidnap Arambula because the restaurateur owed $50,000 to Vazquez’s wife.

But Vazquez has denied any involvement in a kidnapping scheme and told authorities in two interviews he had no idea anyone had planned a break-in at Arambula’s house.

Defense attorney Steven Andrade has suggested Hampton and Manuel Vasquez were acting alone and went to the Arambula house to steal money that the victim often took home from his Main Street restaurant, Taqueria Vallarta.

Andrade tried to solidify the defense case Thursday by calling the police officer who interviewed Arambula’s wife soon after the shooting.

Sgt. Gerald Thurston testified he was told by Yazmin Arambula that the two intruders had promised they would not harm her or her husband. She said they told her they “just want the money,” Thurston said.

During a search of the Arambula house that night, Ventura police recovered a cellular phone belonging to Manuel Vasquez’s mother. Phone records show three calls were placed to the defendant’s cellular phone just before the shooting.

In his opening statement, Andrade told jurors there is no proof that Vazquez answered the calls, which ranged from one to seven minutes in duration.

On Thursday, Andrade called a defense investigator who testified he had examined the phone after the slaying and observed that its antenna was malfunctioning.

Andrade has suggested a call could have gone through without his client answering because the phone did not operate properly.

Vazquez is the only suspect in the case to stand trial. Hampton, 20, was sentenced to life in prison in April after waiving a jury trial so a judge could sentence him based on the evidence presented at a preliminary hearing.

Manuel Vasquez, 21, is believed to have fled the country.