Trial Begins in 1993 Slaying of Teenager

An up-and-coming chef at Spago restaurant in West Hollywood went on trial Wednesday on charges of killing a teenager seven years ago, when he was 16 years old.

Last month, Los Angeles and Ventura police arrested him on suspicion of participating in the 1993 slaying of Ventura teenager Jesse Strobel. Ryan Simas, 24, now faces murder charges in Juvenile Court.

That trial started Wednesday before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Brian Back, and is expected to last about a week.

Prosecutors say that Simas was one of four teenagers who jumped Strobel on the night of Jan. 29, 1993. They say he lied to police and threw the investigation off track for six years by blaming the crime on an innocent man.

“He had been leading the Ventura Police Department on a wild goose chase,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon said in his opening statement.

But Los Angeles defense attorney Richard Millard said his client played no role in the slaying, which allegedly occurred during an attempted robbery.

“The evidence will show that there is no discussion with Ryan Simas about anyone’s motive to rob somebody,” Millard said, adding that his client came from an affluent family and didn’t need to steal money.

He described Simas as an all-star soccer player who attended Catholic high school and never ran afoul of the law.

“Ryan Simas was the type of youth, and since adult, that most parents would be proud to have,” Millard said. “He was a good boy.”

Simas is the second suspect to be prosecuted in the Strobel killing. Last year, 22-year-old Santa Paula resident Jose “Pepe” Castillo admitted to wielding the murder weapon and stabbing Strobel in the chest.

Until Castillo’s boastful admissions to a police informant last year, authorities for years had suspected one of Strobel’s classmates whom Simas had implicated.

Prosecutors charged Simas with murder after Castillo and the two other teenagers in the car that night told investigators Simas was the driver and participated in the fight.

But because of his age, Simas faces less than a year in custody if he is convicted because juvenile offenders cannot be held past the age of 25.

Regardless of the penalty, the case is a significant one for officers who spent years investigating a slaying that stunned and angered the Ventura community.

Strobel, a popular Ventura High School football player, was walking home from his father’s beach-side pizzeria about 11 p.m. when he reportedly was confronted by a carload of teenagers who had been cruising the residential neighborhood.

A fight broke out, and Strobel was stabbed in the chest, police said. The 17-year-old crawled to a neighbor’s house for help and collapsed on the front porch after finding no one was there.

Roxanne Skieva and her friends found Strobel that night after coming home from a roller rink. Skieva, a Ventura High student at the time, was among the first witnesses to testify Wednesday.

“I thought somebody had gotten drunk and passed out,” she recalled.

But when her friend flipped on the porch light, they saw blood and called 911. Strobel was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Simon said two of the other teenagers in the car have been granted immunity from prosecution and will testify.

Millard indicated in his opening statement that the court will hear two accounts of what happened that night.

He said Simas drove to Santa Paula to pick up two of his friends, who had invited a third teenager, whom he did not know, to come along for the night. That teenager was Castillo. The four headed to Ventura, cruised around listening to music and looking for girls, and sometime before 11 p.m. one of the teenagers told Simas: “Turn here.”

Millard said Simas turned onto North Catalina Street, where they pulled over so one of the teenagers could urinate. He said a “scuffle” started with a person walking up the street--apparently Strobel.

After the fight, Millard said, all four teenagers climbed back in the car and Simas drove away, not knowing that Strobel had been stabbed. Millard said he may call Simas’ relatives to testify about his client’s clean record, telling the jury the accusations are “totally out of character to the life Ryan Simas has led.”