After beating murder charge, Oxnard man faces prison for gun crimes

A man who beat a murder charge based on self-defense in Oxnard faces the potential of 25 years to life in prison in connection with the gun and ammunition he used.

Jaime Villarreal is headed to sentencing on three firearm charges Thursday before Judge David Worley, who presided over a jury trial that ended last month in Ventura County Superior Court. The jury acquitted Villarreal of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of 40-year-old Raymond Delval on Aug. 30, 2019, at the home where they both lived on Berkshire Street near Oxnard College, but convicted him of the associated firearms charges.

Villarreal, 46, no longer faces any penalty for his decision to kill. But he is vulnerable under California's three-strikes sentencing law, which requires 25 years to life if someone is convicted of three violent or serious felonies. Villarreal already had two strikes for a robbery and an attempted robbery in 1996 and now could have a third because he armed himself with a firearm he was forbidden from possessing even if he did it to defend himself from Delval.

The jury found him guilty of possession of a short-barreled rifle, the weapon he bought off the streets for $50 and used to kill Delval. He also was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition due to that purchase.

Defense counsel John Taylor said after the verdict that none of those firearm convictions qualify as strikes on their own, but that Villarreal faces a third strike under an exception that applies to felonies committed while being armed with a firearm. In this case, the felonies are possession of the firearm or ammunition by a felon, he said.

Taylor is asking Worley to eliminate the two strikes that are now nearly 30 years old, but the prosecution wants the full sentence imposed.

If the judge drops one strike, Villarreal faces a maximum sentence of seven years, eight months in prison, according to Taylor. If he drops both, the senior deputy public defender said the maximum term would be three years and eight months.

Under either option, the time the defendant has already served in county jail since his arrest would give him enough credits to be released without prison time, according to Taylor's calculations. He would still be supervised by parole agents for up to three years after his release, Taylor said.

The attorney argues that the strikes should be dropped based on his client's clean felony record since that time, the recent acquittals for the shooting and evidence showing Villarreal bought the gun because he felt threatened.

"It would not be in the interest of justice for him to get a life sentence based on his criminal history of 20 to 30 years ago," he said after the verdict, calling it merely a case of simple possession of a firearm by a felon.

Villarreal was 19 at the time of his earlier crimes and served about eight years in prison for them, Taylor said. He was paroled in 2004 and has had no new felony convictions and no convictions for crimes of violence since then, he said.

Prosecutor Anne Spillner said she will be seeking a sentence of 25 years to life.

"We do take seriously crimes involving firearms," the senior deputy district attorney said. "Gun violence is a huge issue in this country....History shows felons have not acted responsibly with guns."

Villarreal was prohibited from possessing firearms and had committed two violent strikes, she said, but nevertheless continued to procure a gun. Villarreal allegedly struck the jaw of a 54-year-old man during the 1996 robbery, forced him onto a bed and pointed a handgun at his chest, a probation report says.

Even though the jury acquitted him and probably did so based on self-defense, he had other options than illegally buying the short-barrel rifle off the street, Spillner said.

Short-barreled or sawed-off rifles are easy to conceal and can be hazardous even to the user, according to law-enforcement sources. They are illegal in California.

"Illegal guns and buying guns off the street, that is something we take seriously," Spillner said. "My regret is that the jury didn’t see it in the same way, but the jury is the ultimate decider of these issues."

County probation officials are recommending prison for the defendant in a report sent to the court late last week. The defendant knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition yet purchased an unregistered shotgun, the report said, saying his actions "demonstrate he has no regard for the criminal justice system."

Villarreal told probation officials he felt a fair punishment would be for the court to strike the two earlier strikes because they're over 10 years old, according to the report.

Before the incident occurred, he was working, taking care of his three children and not breaking the law, he stated.

Kathleen Wilson covers courts, crime and local government issues for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0271.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: DA seeks prison term on gun charges for man acquitted of Oxnard murder