Defense Says Killing Was Not a Conspiracy

Ventura resident William Zara, 18, died as a result of a violent brawl with his neighbors and not because of a planned gang attack as prosecutors have alleged, defense attorneys argued Thursday.

“The conspiracy argument is just nonsense,” defense attorney Philip Gunnels said in closing statements.

If the four defendants had conspired in the beating, Gunnels said, they would have gone together to confront Zara and his friends, who they mistakenly thought called police about loud noise at their party.

Instead, they went in small groups, with other party-goers, across the street to Zara’s apartment complex on the west side of Ventura. No one intended to beat up Zara or anyone else, defense attorneys said.

Zara, an 18-year-old stagehand at the Ventura Theatre, died in the September 1999 attack from massive head injuries. He had been stabbed, kicked, punched and pummeled with a bat and shovel.

Frank and Rosana Olvera, Benny Lopez and Terry Paul Schell are on trial on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit assault. They face additional charges of committing the crime in association with a gang. Lopez and Schell are members of the Ventura Avenue Gangsters, authorities say. If convicted, all four could be sent to prison for life.

Defense attorneys urged jurors to find the defendants not guilty based on witness misidentification.

“Is this case filled with reasonable doubt?” asked Victor Salas, attorney for Lopez. “Yes, it is.”

Defense attorneys said Chris Gonzales’ testimony should not be trusted because he is a gang member who cut a deal with prosecutors to escape a murder charge. Frank Olvera, who testified in his own defense, pointed a finger at Lopez to save himself, Salas added.

Lopez, 20, is accused of repeatedly slamming Zara with the bat and cracking his skull. Though a few witnesses pointed to Lopez as the man who wielded the bat, Salas said they were not 100% certain. Some witnesses identified another man as the bat-wielding assailant.

Salas also pointed out that there was no blood on Lopez and no blood or fingerprints on the bat. “I just don’t believe there is enough proof that it was Benny Lopez,” Salas said.

Gunnels, who represents Rosana Olvera, said his client exercised poor judgment when she walked across the street to yell at the neighbors. She shouldn’t have been drinking and she shouldn’t have gotten into a shoving match with Zara’s friend, he said.

“But that doesn’t make her a conspirator or a murderer,” Gunnels said. “Rosana Olvera never laid one single finger on Billy.”

Prosecutors have referred to Rosana Olvera, 37, as the gang’s “den mother” and said her fight with the teenager was the event that started the melee. But Gunnels argued that she did not go across the street on behalf of the gang, and she did not intend to set off the melee.

Schell’s attorney, Nancy Aronson, also attacked the conspiracy theory and said there are significant “holes and gaps” in the case. Schell, 23, is accused of punching and kicking Zara. Aronson will finish her argument this morning.

Charles Cassy, who represents Frank Olvera, 34, made his closing statement Wednesday. He argued that witnesses misidentified his client as the person who had the shovel.