Jury Finds Oxnard Man Guilty of Beating to Death Teenage Boy Last Summer

After less than five days of testimony and five hours of deliberation, a Ventura County jury found an Oxnard man guilty of beating to death a teenage boy last summer.

Donald William Brown, 20, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old Jaime Morales, who died in what police say was a gang-related beating.

“I think the jury did a fabulous job,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Phillips, who prosecuted the case. “Under the facts and circumstances presented during the trial, they came to the right decision.”

The Morales family, who did not attend court Thursday, was unavailable for comment.

The July 25 slaying of Morales shocked the south Oxnard neighborhood where he lived. Family members said Morales, a former gang member, was turning his life around, adding that he was ready to graduate from high school and go to college.

“There were no motives,” said the boy’s mother, Maria Elena Morales, shortly after his death. “Why did they do this? Jaime didn’t have any enemies.”

Morales’ slaying was one of a spate of gang-related killings in Oxnard last year. Six of the 18 homicides reported were connected to gangs, police said.

According to witnesses, Morales died after Brown and two other men beat him with baseball bats in an alley near N and Hill streets in Oxnard.

Brown, who fled Ventura County to Florida, turned himself in to authorities after a warrant for his arrest was posted.

Police arrested Terrence Brumfield and Fred Williams Sr., both from Port Hueneme, in August, but later released them because of scant evidence.

According to investigators, police issued a warrant for Brown’s arrest after he admitted to his father and a neighbor that he had participated in the beating. Additionally, investigators recovered Brown’s blood-stained tennis shoes, which they say were used to stomp and kick Morales.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20. Second-degree murder charges carry a minimum sentence of 15 years to life.