Man Gets 29-Year Sentence for 1998 Ventura Street Stabbings That Left 1 Dead

Two years after a 24-year-old Moorpark man was stabbed to death during a fight over a hallucinogenic mushroom, a judge Wednesday sentenced the killer to 29 years in prison and his accomplice to four years.

Superior Court Judge Herbert Curtis sentenced Robert Imes to 16 years in prison for killing Robert Bankson and 13 more for the attempted murder of Bankson’s friend, Joe Morgan, of Oxnard, attorneys said. Imes, 20, will be eligible for parole in about 24 years.

“This case was unusual in that the victims, both of them, were truly innocent,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said after the three-hour hearing. “I think that’s probably the hardest thing for the families and that is that this was such a random act of viciousness.”

An attorney for Imes had argued for concurrent prison terms, which would have required Imes to serve about half the time.

“It was rather a harsh sentence that Judge Curtis gave out,” defense attorney Louisa McLean said.

Both defendants received the maximum penalties under state law and were ordered to pay a combined total of $10,000 in restitution to Bankson’s family.

Imes’ co-defendant, 21-year-old Vincent “Ryan” Gatica, was sentenced to four years for his conviction on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. His attorney had hoped for a three-year term.

“I am disappointed he got the aggravated term,” defense attorney David Callahan said. “I don’t think he got that for the crime he committed but for the company he kept at the time.”

In deciding the sentences, the judge said he was disturbed that two weeks after the July 1998 slaying the defendants were photographed while flashing gang signs, drinking beer and posing with David Alvarez, an Ojai man convicted earlier this year of murdering a teen girl, Fox said.

Also, the judge invalidated 177 days of so-called “good time” credit that Gatica had earned in jail, attorneys said, adding that the credit was revoked because Gatica had been repeatedly reprimanded in custody during the case and had participated in a jailhouse riot last year. Regardless, because of the nature of his conviction, Gatica will be free in about a year, attorneys said.

The sentences came four months after Imes was convicted of second-degree murder and Gatica of the lesser charge.

According to court testimony, Imes ran into Bankson and Morgan after a Ventura concert as the three men were walking on North Laurel Street near downtown Ventura. One of the men offered Imes a piece of a hallucinogenic mushroom and a fight started when Imes grabbed the whole mushroom.

Gatica, who had been with Imes at a nearby party, then joined the fight before Imes pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed both Morgan, 23, and Bankson, according to testimony.

Morgan, who was stabbed in the back, was able to run to a nearby convenience store for help. But Bankson was mortally wounded after being stabbed several times in the head and chest.

During the trial, Gatica’s attorney argued his client did not know Imes had been carrying a knife and had not held Bankson down so Imes could stab him as alleged. Gatica testified in his own defense that he backed off the fight after being stabbed in the arm by Imes.

Jurors believed Gatica was involved but found he did not know about the knife until it was too late, and therefore had no intent to kill anyone.

At the sentencing, Bankson’s mother and stepmother addressed the judge, and the stepmother read a letter to the court that had been written by Bankson’s father. Both women talked about how much they missed Bankson, attorneys said.

Callahan put one witness on the stand, Gary Haden, a family friend of Gatica’s, who testified Gatica was a respectable young man who fell into the wrong crowd in his late teen years, attorneys said.

“He took pains to make the point that this was a tragedy for both Mr. Bankson and his family members and Ryan Gatica,” Callahan said.

Callahan also told the judge his client had earned a high school equivalency diploma while in custody and had overcome reading difficulties. Callahan gave the judge a list of books his client had read.

Imes’ attorney submitted her arguments in a written brief, which contained two dozen letters from family members and teachers who requested leniency and mercy.

“They said Robbie was a very, very good friend to anyone he was friends with and very loyal,” McLean said. “They said he was a provider for his baby and the mother of his child and that he took responsibility.”