By Raul Hernandez
Ventura County Star
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — A jail inmate testified Friday that defendant David Sinsum and another inmate walked into his cell and told himhe had to pay rent - a bag of coffee and a meal tray a day - to be able to stay at the jail unit on Todd Road near Santa Paula where he was housed.
Inmate Matthew Reeves testified in Superior Court that Sinsum was with Steven “Smiley” Garcia, who “held the keys” to the jail tank, meaning he was the leader. Reeves said Garcia held Sinsum by the collar, saying Sinsum was his “pit bull” and once unleashed would be out of control.
Sinsum, an alleged Colonia Chiques gang member, is on trial over the Jan. 13 brutal beating ofGerardo Mendoza at the county jail. Sinsum, of Oxnard, is charged with three gang-related felonies: street terrorism; assault with a deadly weapon, a razor; and battery with serious bodily injury.
Prosecutors say Sinsum kicked Mendoza in the head, rendering him unconscious for two days, and slashed his face with a razor.
Reeves said Sinsum was growling like a dog while in his cell with Garcia, and showed him photos of the badly beaten Mendoza, who was not a gang member.
“Smiley told me that I was going to pay rent or I would end up like Mendoza,” Reeves said.
Reeves said he had to pay rent because he isn’t Hispanic ora member ofaHispanic gang. He said he gave a few food trays to his cell mate, Eric Martinez, as he was told to do.
Reeves said he didn’t know he’d be testifying in Sinsum’s trial until Friday.
Under cross-examination by Sinsum, who is representing himself in the trial, Reeves said he was at the jail unit for six days and that Sinsum didn’t do anything to him.
Oxnard Police Department Officer Mike Marostica, who is assigned to the gang unit and is a gang expert, testified that Sinsum has admitted being a Colonia Chiques gang member for 15 years.
Sinsum asked Marostica if he considers himself a gang expert; Marostica said the court considers him one. Marostica said he’s never gone into a prison yard to get involved with the “gang politics” there or infiltrated a gang.
Marostica said he doesn’t have photos of Sinsum flashing gang signs or gang graffiti with his nickname on it. Marostica said he didn’t have any information that Sinsum was associating with gang members in the past three years, other than Sinsum’s twin brother, Isaac. Marostica testified he doesn’t have enough information since 2005 to determine whether Isaac Sinsum is an active member.
An April 4, 2010, field interview card filled out by police on the streets, indicated that Sinsum was “a volunteer at St. Paul Church” and another card noted he was employed, according to Ma rostica .
The 27-year-old Sinsum fired his lawyer and is representing himself.
Closing arguments in the trial are expected to begin Monday.
Copyright 2011 Ventura County Star