The defense rested Wednesday in the trial of a 24-year-old man accused of joining his brother in a violent takeover robbery at a Banning cannabis store, where two people were stabbed and another almost shot.
Raymond Emilio Paul Matus of Beaumont is charged with armed robbery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.
Attorneys for Matus called their final defense witness on Wednesday, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Steven Counelis directed the jury to return to the Riverside Hall of Justice Thursday afternoon for closing arguments.
Matus is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
His older brother, Richard Matus Jr., died from fentanyl poisoning at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta in 2022. He was 29.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, on the night of June 23, 2018, the defendants allegedly targeted the Go Green Calming Solutions marijuana shop at 6020 Ramsey St.
The brothers burst into the outlet, and the security guard, identified in documents as “J.S.,” immediately identified Richard Matus as a threat and physically engaged him.
The brief said another employee, Daniel Tellez, came to the guard’s aid, and they managed to wrest the handgun that Richard Matus was carrying out of his hand, causing it to fall to the floor.
Prosecutors allege Raymond Matus went to assist his older brother, stabbing Tellez in the left arm, prompting the man and the guard to retreat to the rear of the outlet.
Another employee, Thomas Harris, also attempted to subdue Richard Matus and prevent him from taking possession of the pistol again. According to the prosecution, “the defendant looked at the struggle for the gun that was occurring … and stabbed Harris from behind.”
“(Raymond Matus) stabbed Harris eight to 10 times in an attempt to assist his brother get free,” according to court papers. “The defendant stabbed Harris even when his accomplice brother was back on his feet, and Harris was no longer struggling for the gun.”
A patron of the marijuana shop, Rafat Ali, heard the commotion from the parking lot, armed himself with a baseball bat and went in to help the employees.
When he encountered Richard Matus with the firearm, Ali headed for the exit. Prosecutors allege that a shot was fired in the victim’s direction, and he fell, but wasn’t struck by gunfire.
“Ali sustained a laceration to his chin because he fell, not because he was shot in the face,” according to the defense’s brief.
The brothers initially fled the shop without anything, but they returned moments later and grabbed “three jars of marijuana and a backpack” belonging to one of the employees, according to the prosecution.
Tellez and Harris suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, for which they were treated at San Gorgonio Memorial Medical Center, where Ali was also treated for the cut on his chin, according to court papers.
Within two days of investigators circulating security surveillance photographs of the assailants via social media, numerous people contacted police, confirming the men’s identities, according to documents. A week later, the pair were arrested without incident in San Diego.
Richard Matus had prior convictions for driving under the influence and being a habitual traffic offender. His younger brother had a juvenile conviction for robbery, court papers stated.
The Matus family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last year against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in connection with the death of Richard Matus, who reportedly suffered a massive coronary after taking an unspecified quantity of fentanyl smuggled into his jail cell.
The plaintiffs allege staff were deficient in their response and pointed to wider, systemic problems caused by the sheriff, his administrators and the county, setting the stage for their loved one’s loss.