Jury Hears Closing Arguments in Fatal Stabbing

Calling it a savage attack on a helpless man, a county prosecutor urged jurors Friday to find two Ventura men guilty of second-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of Moorpark resident Robert Bankson.

In her closing argument, Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said Robert Imes, 20, repeatedly plunged a knife into Bankson’s neck and face.

Imes did it to kill Bankson, Fox argued. And he did it, Fox said, with help from 21-year-old co-defendant Vincent Ryan Gatica, who is accused of holding Bankson down as Imes allegedly sunk a pocketknife into him.

Fox told jurors the 24-year-old victim, who had gotten into a scuffle with Imes over an hallucinogenic mushroom, was attacked by the defendants and bled to death on a Ventura street.

“He had no chance,” she said.

But defense attorneys argued their clients acted in self-defense after Bankson and his friend, Joe Morgan, tackled Imes to take back the drug they had offered him.

Attorney Barry O. Bernstein, who represents Imes, said his client had a right to defend himself after Bankson pinned him on a sidewalk.

“He has Mr. Imes in a totally powerless situation,” Bernstein contended.

The lawyer admitted his client used a knife but told jurors Imes was suffering from a brain disorder that influenced his actions at the time of the fight.

Bernstein also said Imes was the smallest of the four participants, and suggested he acted out of fear and in the heat of passion when he stabbed both Morgan and Bankson.

“It all points to a small, soft guy being overwhelmed by two more powerful adversaries,” he said.

Bernstein argued for manslaughter, not murder.

In his closing remarks, attorney David Callahan, who represents Gatica, told the jury evidence in the case supports his client’s testimony that he never aided in the stabbing.

Earlier this week, Gatica took the stand and told jurors he had rushed to help Imes after seeing him pinned to the ground by the two men. Gatica joined in the fight, but backed away after being stabbed in the arm, he said.

Gatica, who is charged with murder as an aider and abettor, testified he did not know that Imes had a knife. He told the jury he never assisted in the stabbing.

Callahan argued in his final remarks that to find Gatica guilty of murder, the jury must conclude he had knowledge that Imes intended to stab Bankson. Moreover, Callahan said, the panel must find that Gatica took some kind of action to help Imes. The evidence doesn’t show that, he said.

In a rebuttal argument, Fox told jurors Gatica had lied during his testimony on the July 21, 1998, attack.

Even if jurors believe Gatica was unaware of the knife, she argued, they must find him guilty of murder under the theory that he participated in an assault very likely to end in death.

She said that theory applies to both defendants.

“When you do something that is so dangerous,” she said, “we don’t care whether you intended to kill--you did.”

Gatica faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder.

Imes could receive 15 to life if found guilty of second-degree murder, and faces up to nine more years if found guilty of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing Bankson’s friend during the fight.