District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that Jason Lyle Garner a 47-year-old man resident of Oxnard, was sentenced to 8 years 8 months prison for three separate felony cases.
On July 16, 2020, witnesses saw Garner and the victim engaged in a verbal argument outside of a liquor store near Ventura Harbor. Garner then followed the victim inside the store and stabbed him at least six times before fleeing the scene.
The victim was transported to the hospital and treated for stab wounds to his arms and torso. The stabbing was captured on surveillance video from several different angles. Using the video, officers with the Ventura Police Department recognized Garner by his horn tattoos and prior incidents with police.
He was arrested on July 21, 2020. On September 8, 2023, after opening statements had begun in his jury trial, Garner pled guilty to one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. Garner also admitted causing great bodily injury in the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to six years prison.
In a second case, Garner pled guilty to being in possession of stolen motorcycles. The motorcycles were found by law enforcement on November 12, 2020, in the Santa Clara River bottom near a trailer that Garner was staying in. He was sentenced to two years prison for that crime, running concurrent with the stabbing sentence.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Mickye Coyle, a member of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office General Trials Unit, prosecuted the case.
“I am thankful for each of our community members who answered the jury summons and gave freely of their time and attention,” Coyle said. “Their participation allowed us to demonstrate the strength of this case and was the impetus for the defendant to take responsibility for the stabbing, and for his other outstanding case where he was in possession of stolen motorcycles.”
Garner was also sentenced in a third case, this one prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Evet Azarian. While out on bail for the stabbing, Garner was arrested by Ventura Police officers who responded to a “check the well-being” call at a storage facility on August 7, 2020. Officers found Garner in front of his storage unit. Officers conducted a probation search on the unit and found hundreds of rounds of live ammunition and two AR-15 lower receivers. He was arrested and charged with three felony gun possession counts. On August 23, 2023, Garner was convicted by a jury of two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to an additional 2 years 8 months prison for a total of 8 years 8 months for the three cases.