JURY WEIGHS CHARGES IN SLAYING OF FORMER TALK SHOW HOST.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Jurors began deliberating Thursday in the trial of 18- year-old Paul Romando, charged with murder in the stabbing death of a former local television personality who was known for helping troubled youths.

Romando's attorney claimed in closing arguments that his client acted in self-defense after 41-year-old Field Terry Simes made sexual advances toward him in a Sierra Highway motel room.

But prosecutors argued that Romando stabbed Simes in the throat in the course of a robbery, took his wallet and purse, and then drove off in the victim's BMW sedan, showing it off to friends and giving them rides.

``The fact is the defendant stabbed Terry Simes to death, and Terry Simes did not have the slightest opportunity to defend himself,'' Deputy District Attorney John Portillo said.

Portillo said Romando tried to conceal evidence of his involvement by throwing away the murder weapon and removing the car's front license plate.

``In the face of all the facts that scream out to you that he robbed and murdered Terry Simes, he then, in an attempt to explain all this, tells one major obvious lie after another,'' Portillo told the jury.

The manager of the Tropic Motel on Sierra Highway found Simes' body about 1 a.m. on April 14, 1999, when he went to the room to check out another guest's complaint of a noisy fight.

A man was seen driving away in Simes' BMW sedan, which had personalized license plates reading FTERRYS. Simes hosted a talk show on KPAL in 1998.

Romando's attorney, David Houchin, portrayed Simes as a predator who trolled for young men. Houchin leafed through the pages of Simes' blue pocket-size book, reading out the first names of the young men for whom phone and beeper numbers were listed.

Witnesses testified to sounds of a fierce struggle in the motel room where Simes was killed - of hearing someone being slammed into walls. Romando was struggling as a ``person who is about to be homosexually raped,'' Houchin contended.

Houchin argued that Romando did not intend to rob Simes, noting that Simes' wristwatch and some money were not taken. Romando, who lived in Palmdale, took Simes' car to leave the motel, he said.

Houchin also said the dead man had no wounds on his hands like those of someone fighting off a knife attack, but Romando had one.

``To convict Paul Romando, you have to have an abiding conviction of the truth of the charges. There's no robbery. Self-defense is all over the place,'' Houchin said.

Portillo started his rebuttal of Houchin's argument by returning to Simes' blue book and reading off the names of women listed in its pages.

``To argue this is a black book of young men he trolled after - that is a desperate argument. This is an argument of someone grasping for straws,'' Portillo said.

Portillo noted there was no evidence in the trial that the defense made any attempt to contact the young men in the book to find out whether Simes had done anything improper.

As for Romando's wound, Portillo said the defendant had a cut on his finger, but there was no evidence of how or when he got it. Portillo said after Romando stabbed Simes in the throat, a fight ensued during which blood was smeared over three walls of the motel room.

Simes did not have any defensive wounds because he never had an opportunity to defend himself, Portillo said.

``He never had an opportunity to put up his arms and hands. Terry Simes received a sudden, cold-blooded stab to the throat, straight back and level, probably without ever seeing it coming,'' Portillo said. ``Terry Simes, after being stabbed, fought as long as he could - until he bled to death, until he had nothing left to fight with.''

Romando and Simes had known each other for about a year. Houchin said they first met when Romando was walking to school and Simes drove up in his car, stopped and struck up a conversation.

Houchin said Simes started the relationship, kept it going and offered to help Romando launch a music career.

Portillo disagreed that Romando was ever a victim.

``You know that no one was manipulated or fooled for an entire year. It was a relationship that went on voluntarily and consensually by both parties for a full year,'' Portillo said.

Romando was tracked down through his girlfriend, who had been seen at a picnic ground in the Angeles National Forest helping a young man remove the license plate from Simes' car.

After Romando was arrested May 5, he told detectives he stabbed Simes after the man made a sexual overture, investigators said. Simes' family members said he was not gay.

Friends and relatives said Simes was a faithful Christian who spent much of his time visiting jail inmates and ex-convicts and trying to set them on the right track. He frequently rented rooms for ex-convicts and others with nowhere to live, they said.

Romando was 17 when Simes was killed, but was found unfit to be tried in Juvenile Court.

Simes' car was seen the morning of the killing at Jackson Lake, near Wrightwood in the Angeles National Forest. A fire crew of prison inmates spotted two teens, a male and a female, removing a license plate from the BMW and placing it with other items into a trash bin.

The fire crew supervisor notified sheriff's deputies at Lancaster. Officials said the license plate and a 6-inch kitchen knife were recovered from the trash bin.

The car was later found in Lake Los Angeles.