Victim Was Independent, Kind, Friend Tells Jury

Three years have passed since the pre-Christmas slaying of 73-year-old Ruth Avril. But for her longtime friend and Oxnard neighbor, Maria Aragon, the guilt and sadness still resonate.

Guilt because Aragon didn’t stop by to check on her elderly landlady in the days before her Dec. 21, 1995, murder.

Sadness because Avril was a kind woman, she said, who enjoyed simple things in life--baking, reading, sitting on the beach.

“She was a very happy person,” Aragon testified Monday. “Very nice, very independent, very kind.”

Aragon was among the final prosecution witnesses to testify during the second penalty phase in the murder trial of Kenneth McKinzie.

The four-time felon was convicted of murder last fall for beating and strangling Avril. But the jury deadlocked on whether the 39-year-old should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Last week, a second jury was impaneled to consider the same question. After four days of testimony, the jury is scheduled to visit two crime scene locations today.

The defense is expected to open its case Thursday by calling the defendant and his mother to the stand. The lawyers are scheduled to begin their closing arguments next Monday.

Prosecutors say McKinzie beat Avril during a robbery and carjacking at her apartment, stuffed her into the trunk of her car and drove to a remote area of Oxnard, where he strangled her and tossed her body into a ditch.

While admitting McKinzie was responsible for Avril’s death, defense attorneys say he only intended to rob the woman--not kill her. They are urging the jury to spare him from execution and recommend a life prison term instead.

Over the past four days in court, prosecutors have questioned nearly 20 witnesses, including the coroner, police investigators, a crime scene expert and friends of the defendant.

McKinzie’s sister, Darlene, took the stand Monday morning. So did his girlfriend and her son, who described the defendant as a father figure.

The prosecution is expected to rest its case today. With the exception of calling a sheriff’s deputy to testify this morning, Aragon’s recollections of Avril’s life wrapped up the presentation of the district attorney’s evidence.

Aragon knew Avril for roughly 20 years. They lived in the apartment building that Avril owned. Aragon said Avril was independent--rarely imposing on her even though she was aging and lived by herself.

It was Aragon who eventually reported Avril missing on Jan. 1, 1996, when several days had passed without anyone seeing her. Aragon recalled how she later identified her friend for police by looking at a photograph of her beaten face.

Avril was divorced. Her only son, Richard, and his wife, Janet, live in Northern California.

Last Friday, outside the jury’s presence, McKinzie told the judge that he wanted to apologize to the victim’s son. Richard Avril, who was sitting in the courtroom gallery at the time, politely declined to hear from the defendant.