Man Charged With Second Killing as He Awaits Trial

Two months after his arrest in the 6-year-old slaying of a Ventura High School athlete, Jose “Pepe” Castillo was charged Tuesday with a second murder count, this one in connection with the 1998 shooting death of a Santa Paula store clerk.

Castillo, 21, was also charged with one count of robbery and one count of burglary in the slaying of Mirna Regollar, a 25-year-old mother of two who was shot in the head and back during a botched robbery at her family’s convenience store.

Castillo’s charges make him eligible for the death penalty.

For Regollar’s mother, Angela Escobedo, the news brought some comfort.

“I feel very content now,” said Escobedo, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m just so tired of this. Now I can finally get some rest.”

For the Santa Paula Police Department, which suffered a significant setback after prosecutors refused to charge a second suspect in the Regollar slaying because of lack of evidence, the new charges against Castillo brought some vindication.

“We felt it would just be a matter of time before charges were filed,” said Santa Paula Police Chief Bob Gonzales.

Alfredo Hernandez, who was arrested with Castillo on April 6 in the Regollar case, was released from jail April 15.

Authorities believe Hernandez and Castillo each fired a bullet into Regollar’s body before running out of Junior’s Market on June 2, 1998. The robbery took place in the middle of the afternoon, and authorities say several witnesses saw two men as they bolted from the store.

Police said witness descriptions fit Castillo and Hernandez, but investigators add that much of their evidence comes from an informant who wore a wire while talking to the men about the slaying.

Castillo spoke freely about the incident and made several incriminating remarks, authorities said. Hernandez was much more careful, leaving police with little to use against him in court, prosecutors concluded.

Santa Paula detectives are still investigating Hernandez, hoping to turn up additional evidence, according to police. But so far, no arrest is in sight, Gonzales said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Glynn said an overloaded court schedule was the only reason for the delay in filing charges against Castillo. Glynn was tied up in another murder case, he said. Castillo is already in jail in connection with the 1993 Jesse Strobel slaying, which is being prosecuted by another deputy district attorney.

Castillo, who was 15 at the time of Strobel’s death, is accused of fatally stabbing the 17-year-old while trying to rob him as he walked home from his father’s pizza parlor.

Prosecutors have struggled unsuccessfully to find a way around a 1993 law that prevents offenders who were under age 16 when they committed their crimes from being tried as adults. For now, Castillo is headed to juvenile court in Strobel’s slaying.

Juvenile authorities say the maximum sentence he would receive if convicted is four years, because the California Youth Authority can not hold an offender beyond the age of 25.

After the Strobel murder trial, Castillo will be prosecuted as an adult in the Regollar slaying. Prosecutors are still considering whether they will seek the death penalty or a life prison term.

Robert Pugsley, a professor of criminal law and legal ethics at Southwestern University School of Law, called Castillo’s situation very unusual. It underscores the importance of newer laws that give judges the discretion to try juvenile offenders as young as 14 as adults, he said.

“Nationwide, states have come to the realization that people of mid-teenage years can be equally vicious and lethal as those who have reached adulthood,” Pugsley said. “Had the laws we have now been in effect then, we would have avoided the rather awkward double proceeding that’s happening now.”

Pugsley added, however, that it is important for the district attorney’s office to proceed with the juvenile case because any conviction there can be used as evidence during a possible death-penalty phase in the Regollar murder trial.

“It’s about establishing a pattern of behavior,” Pugsley said. “If they can get a conviction in juvenile court, it will be more persuasive for a jury. They’re thinking, ‘Here’s a two-time murderer,’ and then they might be more inclined to vote for the death penalty.”

But sitting at her Oxnard home with Regollar’s two small children, Escobedo said she hopes prosecutors do not seek the death penalty. She said she is content to see Castillo stay in jail the rest of his life if he is convicted.

“I don’t want his mother to suffer the way I have,” Escobedo said. “No mother should have to suffer that way.”

Times staff photographer Carlos Chavez contributed to this story.