Ventura Man Gets 16 Years in Stabbings

A man who stabbed three people, one of them fatally, at a party in Simi Valley two years ago was sentenced this week to 16 years in state prison.

Robert Winters, 20, of Ventura pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault charges in July after admitting that he stabbed the victims with a pocketknife on Oct. 13, 2001.

Winters’ attorney had argued at a preliminary hearing last year that his client acted in self-defense after a group of drunk party-goers jumped him.

But prosecutors presented evidence to show that Winters lunged at the victims with an open knife during an altercation, swinging the weapon wildly before fatally stabbing Randy Lucero, 21.

Winters fled but turned himself in to police the next day. He was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years on the manslaughter count and an additional five years for the assault charges and related allegations.