Judge sends Camarillo murder case to trial
Witnesses provide new insight into early morning shooting
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

As she sat and listened during the preliminary hearing's two days of witness testimonies, Brenda Jones dabbed at her teary eyes, shook her head in disbelief and was comforted by her two grown daughters.

A few feet away in the fourth-floor Ventura courtroom, the three Seabees accused of killing Jones' 27-year-old son John Marmo, sat with legs shackled at the defense table wearing prison-issued blue overalls and orange T-shirts.

Rebecca Braswell, 26, Shannon Butler, 23, and Matthew Toerner, 20, listened as lead prosecutor Richard Simon called to the stand fellow Navy sailors, Marmo's neighbors and homicide detectives to help piece together the details leading to the Dec. 1 shooting that left Marmo dead in front of his Camarillo condominium.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge John Dobroth ruled on Wednesday that the three would stand trial for the shooting that prosecutors say stemmed from a longtime custody battle. Marmo and Braswell, his exwife, have a 5year-old daughter.

On Oct. 31, a month before he was shot, Marmo was awarded joint custody of his daughter. Marmo was killed on what would have been his fifth wedding anniversary.

Fellow Seabee Seth Hardy, 20, was also arrested in connection with the case. According to police, Hardy admitted that on two separate occasions in October 2006 he had attached Coleman Powermax propane canisters to the exhaust pipe of Marmo's 1999 Hyundai in an attempt to blow up the car and kill Marmo. Hardy's next court date is pending.

All four suspects pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to testimony given by Ventura County Sheriff's Department detective Joe Evans, Toerner admitted that he pulled the trigger in the early morning slaying during a Dec. 12 interview.

Toerner, a resident of Laguna Hills, Calif., was interviewed by Evans in Okinawa, Japan, where he had been deployed two days after Marmo's slaying.

Toerner first told detectives, Evans said, that he had gone with Butler in a gray Dodge Durango SUV she had rented to Marmo's home. While Toerner sat in the back seat of the truck, he said Butler parked in the neighboring driveway and then shot Marmo as he walked out to his car around 6 a.m, according to Evans.

The detective said Toerner then admitted he was the shooter after Evans told him forensics could prove where the gun was fired from and who pulled the trigger.

Evans testified that Toerner shot Marmo because he believed Marmo was going to kill or hurt Butler. After admitting his alleged guilt, Toerner was "extremely" remorseful, the detective said.

According to Evans, Toerner told him he was also there when Hardy and Butler attached the propane tank to Marmo's car. Although he stayed in the car, Toerner said Butler acted as lookout while Hardy connected the homemade bomb.

Evans also testified that Butler was seen by police putting the .9 mm handgun ballistic experts said was used in the shooting into the backseat of a friend's pickup truck parked in front of Carl's Jr. restaurant in Ventura.

Evans said Navy seaman Ivan Condit, who was working as an informant for police, told Butler during a taped conversation that he'd dispose of the reported murder weapon.

Butler told Condit she needed permission to dispose of the gun because it belonged to Braswell, according to Evans.

Detectives then recorded a phone conversation in which Condit told Braswell police could trace the gun and that he was going out of town and would dispose of it for her. According to Evans' testimony, Braswell told Condit "I paid good money for that thing," and intended to take it back to Arizona with her.

Although Evans said Braswell first told him during questioning that the gun she owned was at her in home in Arizona, she later admitted the gun was hers.

Evans said Braswell changed her story "180 degrees" and admitted it was her gun but that Butler had taken it from her without permission. Braswell said she didn't tell investigators about the gun because it was not allowed on the Naval base.

Braswell said she didn't know what Butler planned to the do with the gun, Evans said, and didn't think Butler would kill Marmo.

There was little said as to whether or not Braswell convinced Butler to help plan Marmo's murder or if Butler had decided to take the matter into her own hands. Prosecutors said Butler apparently targeted Marmo because of the twoanda-half year custody battle over his young daughter.

What others heard

Several fellow Seabees testified that Butler repeatedly asked them to help her kill or injure Marmo.

Raymie Huddleston, a fellow sailor who served with Butler, said she "asked me if I know of anyone … who would use a gun to kill someone." Huddleston also said Butler had told her that she tried to acquire a gun from a member of the Hells Angels or another gang in Oxnard. Butler later said she had gotten a gun, according to Huddleston.

Huddleston added that Butler talked about switching the barrel of a gun to make it harder to trace.

Huddleston said Butler, frustrated that someone who she allegedly paid $1,000 to shoot Marmo had backed out, talked about using a propane tank to blow up a car and asked if Huddleston thought it would work.

Huddleston said that Butler had shown her an alleged death threat letter from Marmo and that she was scared for her life.

Navy seaman Brian Linnell said Butler had also told him about Marmo and talked about a plan to attach a propane tank to Marmo's car.

While giving Butler a ride in his truck, Linnell said Butler showed him a gun and asked if he'd kill Marmo. Linnell said he didn't take Butler seriously when she brandished the gun.

Seabee Donald Kohler, who dated Butler, said he overheard Butler and Braswell several times talking about hurting Marmo while the three were standing in a smoking area on the base.

Kohler said Butler offered to pay anyone $200 to beat up Marmo so he couldn't walk or to cut the brake lines on his car "to make it look like an accident." Kohler testified that he stopped dating Butler because he was tired of hearing her and Braswell talk about Marmo.

"I did not want to deal anymore with the controversy going on with that," Kohler said.

Kohler said Toerner was present when Butler asked a group of fellow sailors if they knew how to make explosive devices.

Kohler said he didn't report it to police because he thought "it was all in joking."

Michelle Knight contributed to this story. knight@theacorn.com