Crime & Safety
Retrial Wrapping of Man Accused of Killing Menifee Car Wash Manager
Jeremy Joseph Robbins, 39, could face 15 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the 2014 attack.
The prosecution rested Thursday in the retrial of a man accused of fatally stomping a Menifee car wash manager during a dispute over missing clothes.
Jeremy Joseph Robbins, 39, could face 15 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 60-year-old Wesley "Wes" Uyekawa.
Following a week of testimony, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Michael Lough called his final witness this afternoon, after which the defense opened its case. Superior Court Judge Elisabeth Sichel scheduled testimony to resume on Monday morning.
In January, a Riverside jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of convicting Robbins, culminating in a mistrial.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
In the previous trial, Lough based his case on a security surveillance videotape that captured most of the March 23, 2014, confrontation at the McCall Storage & Car Wash.
The prosecutor reconstructed events leading up to the encounter, beginning with Robbins' visit to the car wash on the afternoon of March 22.
Images showed that after the Lancaster man vacuumed out his four-door sedan, he left the business without retrieving dry-cleaning that he'd placed on a fence. A couple hours later, another car wash customer snatched the articles before driving away.
Lough played segments that showed Robbins arriving the following morning and searching for his dry-cleaning. The defendant appeared visibly upset when unable to find the clothing, eventually knocking repeatedly on the glass door to the business, at which point Uyekawa answered.
The video recorded no sound as the victim and defendant spoke for the first time uneventfully. Robbins departed the business, but surveillance video showed him returning roughly 20 minutes later. By that time, Uyekawa had gone into the apartment adjacent to the main office, where he lived on-site.
Cameras captured Robbins making his way to the residence, from which Uyekawa emerged moments later carrying a birdcage pan, appearing ready to empty it. The video showed Robbins gesturing aggressively and apparently pushing the victim into a thorn bush.
The ensuing 30 seconds were obscured by a wall. However, Uyekawa later told sheriff's investigators that Robbins -- convinced that the car wash manager had stolen his garments -- turned violent. The victim alleged that he was punched in the face and fell to the ground, where he attempted to grab onto the defendant's leg.
Lough alleged that Robbins stomped the older man's stomach before fleeing the scene. The defense insisted that Uyekawa was the aggressor.
The victim was transported to Menifee Valley Medical Center for an examination, but was released later in the day. He was found by a co-worker the following morning, dead in his apartment from a ruptured small intestine.
Robbins has a prior felony conviction, but court records did not specify the nature of the offense nor where it occurred.
— By City News Service.
