Ex-Ranch Foreman Acquitted of Murder Despite a Confession : Crime: A jury official says the prosecution failed to provide ‘separate evidence to substantiate’ the charge stemming from the 1988 Simi Valley slaying.

A Ventura County jury has acquitted a former Simi Valley ranch foreman of a murder he earlier confessed to committing.

Luis Roberto Benavidez, 39, was acquitted of the 1988 shooting death of Marcos Anthony Scott, 18, whose skeletal remains were discovered earlier this year near the Simi Valley ranch where both men had worked.

The jury delivered the not-guilty verdict Wednesday after deliberating for five days.

“The prosecution did not prove that Roberto was the killer,� jury forewoman Martina Rippey said.

“We had to find corroborating evidence besides his confession that pointed to his guilt and . . . there was no separate evidence to substantiate the murder charge,� Rippey said.

Benavidez’s attorney, Ira S. Chester, said police had coerced a confession out of his client. He said detectives told Benavidez that they had his girlfriend, Paula Norberg, in custody and would arrest her in connection with the crime and put the couple’s infant daughter in a foster home if he didn’t admit to the killing.

“My client made up a false confession,� Chester said. “The jury just believed that the Simi Valley police coerced the confession out of him.�

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn, the prosecutor in the case, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Simi Valley Detective Robert Hopkins, who interrogated Benavidez after his arrest, declined to discuss the outcome of the trial.

Glynn’s supervisor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald C. Janes, said he was disappointed in the verdict and planned to meet with Glynn today to review the case to determine whether they should pursue a further investigation of Scott’s slaying.

Benavidez, of Lake Hughes, was arrested March 20 soon after two hikers discovered the victim’s skull in a ravine near the former Livingston Ranch on Tierra Rejada Road in Simi Valley. The skull had apparently been unearthed by heavy rains, and investigators found the rest of the victim’s remains nearby.

Until recently, the site was part of a horse-boarding ranch where Benavidez had been foreman from 1979 to 1991, when it closed. Scott, formerly of Thousand Oaks, had lived at the ranch for a few weeks until he disappeared in late 1988.

Benavidez was arrested in connection with Scott’s slaying after Benavidez’s ex-wife, Alicia, notified police that she believed he was responsible for the slaying.

Chester said his client was falsely accused by his ex-wife because she was jealous of his relationship with Norberg.

During the trial, Javier Vasquez, the cousin of the defendant, testified that Benavidez had admitted to him that he killed Scott during an argument over drugs.

Benavidez later took the stand in his own defense and accused Vasquez of the killing. He said Vasquez had confessed to him about the slaying.

Rippey said there were many inconsistencies in both men’s testimony, which made if difficult for the jury to determine who was more credible.

In the end, she said, the jury “could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt� that Benavidez had committed the slaying.

Benavidez, who has been in jail since his arrest in March, was released Wednesday night. He was unavailable for comment.

“He’s happy� about the verdict, Chester said of his client. “But he’s also angry that he had to go through all of this when he didn’t do anything wrong.�