Jury Convicts 2 in Slaying of Moorpark Man

After four days of deliberations, a Ventura County jury Thursday convicted one man of murder but found his co-defendant guilty of a lesser charge in the 1998 slaying of a 24-year-old Moorpark man.

Robert Imes, 20, was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Robert Bankson during a fight on a Ventura street.

But co-defendant Vincent “Ryan” Gatica, 21, was found not guilty of murder after jurors rejected the prosecution’s theory that he held Bankson down as Imes repeatedly sank a pocketknife into the victim’s neck, head and back.

Instead, the jury found Gatica guilty of involuntary manslaughter for participating in the fight--a lesser charge punishable by as little as two years in state prison.

For Gatica, who has already served 20 months in Ventura County Jail while awaiting trial, the verdict means he could be released from custody as early as next month.

The tall, dark-haired Gatica stood ramrod straight as the verdict was announced before a hushed crowd in Ventura County Superior Court.

After the jury left the courtroom, Gatica gave his attorney, David Callahan, a look of relief. Seated in the gallery behind him, Gatica’s parents and two sisters hugged each other and cried.

“There is justice in this world,” said 17-year-old sister Lila Stines. “I’m so grateful to have my brother back.”

Outside the courtroom, father Tony Gatica told reporters that the jury’s verdict proves to the community what he has always believed in his heart--that his son wasn’t a killer.

“I can face people now,” he said, “and say my son didn’t commit murder.”

As he spoke, Imes’ mother quickly walked out of court in tears. Her son faces 34 years to life in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder, attempted murder on Bankson’s friend, Joe Morgan, and various other allegations.

Bankson’s family looked stunned. For them, the verdict marked a confusing and disappointing conclusion to a painful case.

“I think they are kind of in shock,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said. “I think they are having a very hard time understanding how the man who held their son as he was stabbed to death was not convicted of something more serious than involuntary manslaughter.”

Bankson was killed July 21, 1998, after an altercation with Imes outside an apartment complex on North Laurel Street near downtown Ventura.

A recent lottery winner who had given his $1-million ticket to his mother, Bankson had been partying up and down the California coast with several friends in the days before the stabbing.

The night of the stabbing, the group attended a concert at the Ventura Fairgrounds and later went to a party at an apartment on North Laurel Street.

Bankson and Morgan were leaving to walk to the beach when they ran into Imes, who lived nearby. When the men offered Imes a piece of a hallucinogenic mushroom, he grabbed the entire thing and a fight broke out, according to court testimony.

When Gatica, who had been at Imes’ apartment with some friends, came looking for Imes and found him pinned on the ground by Morgan and Bankson, he tackled one of the men.

In a matter of seconds, Morgan was stabbed in the back and fled in search of help. Witnesses testified that they then saw two men on top of Bankson, who was cut and stabbed more than a dozen times.

But Gatica took the stand in his own defense during the trial and told jurors that he did not hold Bankson down so Imes could stab him. He testified that he didn’t know Imes had a knife until he was stabbed in the arm by his friend. At that point, he told the jury, he backed away as Imes “flailed” at Bankson with the knife.

In the end, jurors said, they believed Gatica’s version.

“We felt that Mr. Gatica had culpability because of his involvement in the fight,” said jury foreman John Williams of Camarillo. “But we didn’t think he committed murder.”

Imes’ second-degree conviction was a “gift,” given the considerable evidence against him, Williams said. But the foreman said jurors struggled with the verdict against Gatica.

Earlier in the week, jurors sent a note to Judge Herbert Curtis asking if they could convict Gatica on a lesser charge. They also asked to hear testimony of three witnesses, including Morgan, read back.

By Thursday morning, the group reached a unanimous conclusion that Gatica didn’t know his friend had pulled a knife until it was too late.

“There was uncertainly about what his involvement was,” Williams said. “But there was no intent to kill anyone.”

Sentencing is set for April 13.