OXNARD : Charges Dropped in Fatal Bar Stabbing

Prosecutors on Monday dropped charges against the younger of two Oxnard men accused in a stabbing death outside a bar in June, but scheduled a jury trial for the other.

Alfred Aguirre, 21, has been in Ventura County Jail for more than six weeks. But Steven Rodriguez, Aguirre’s 46-year-old uncle, will stand trial on a charge of murder on Sept. 20.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison, who will proceed to trial against Rodriguez, said the charges were dropped because of lack of evidence against Aguirre.

Rodriguez’s attorney, James M. Farley, said his client acted in self-defense when he stabbed Raymond Caballero outside the Casbah Lounge in Oxnard on June 18.

“The victim was swinging a two-by-four (board) and hit my guy,” Farley said outside court.

Farley conceded that his client was holding a tire iron, and later produced a knife. But he said Rodriguez was defending himself from Caballero and the most serious charge against his client should be manslaughter.

Witnesses at a preliminary hearing in Municipal Court last month testified that both men displayed knives during the evening.

The arguments began inside the bar and both men and Aguirre were kicked out by security, but later stopped arguing and were allowed to re-enter the nightspot, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.

When they began arguing again and were escorted outside a second time, a fight ensued and Caballero was fatally stabbed. Rodriguez, a maintenance worker for Ventura County for 15 years, and Aguirre were arrested a short time later.