A Superior Court judge said Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to hold three Seabees over for trial in connection with last year's slaying of a Camarillo man, including murder and other felonies.

Judge John Dobroth's ruling on Rebecca Braswell, Matthew Toerner and Shannon Butler came after two days of testimony in a preliminary hearing that provided details on John Marmo Jr.'s death.

Prosecutors allege Braswell, Marmo's ex-wife, got Butler to help with the killing. After the hearing, Senior Deputy District Attorney Richard Simon said he doesn't know exactly how Braswell persuaded Butler to get the others involved.

"For me to answer that, I'd have to get inside her head. I'd have to get inside her friend's head," Simon said in an interview. "There is a loyalty factor here that I don't understand. Why do people do those things for their friends? But it's obvious, from the evidence, that Butler was willing to do it. Exactly what the loyalty is there, I am not going to speculate. But it happened."

Marmo, 27, was fatally shot at 5:58 a.m. Dec. 1 outside his town house in Camarillo. Braswell, 26, and Marmo were going through a bitter custody battle over their 4-year-old daughter that witnesses said resulted in vicious threats and counterthreats.

A fourth Seabee, Seth Hardy, 20, is accused of unsuccessfully trying to kill Marmo by putting propane canisters in the undercarriage of his car twice in October.

All four suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges. A preliminary hearing for Hardy is pending.

Defense attorneys didn't put any witnesses on the stand during this week's hearing. Typically, defense attorneys don't have witnesses during a preliminary hearing, where judges use the lower legal threshold of "probable cause" to determine whether a defendant should be held for trial.

Defense attorneys, however, vigorously challenged the truthfulness or memories of a string of prosecution witnesses this week.

Throughout the hearing, much of the testimony and evidence centered around Braswell's friend Butler, 23, who claimed Marmo had beat her up and threatened her.

Witnesses said Butler tried to get someone to kill Marmo because of the custody battle. Butler asked several people if they had guns or knew of someone who would do a contract hit, witnesses said.

Sheriff's detectives testified that Butler was able to snare Toerner, 20, and Hardy.

Detective Joe Evans testified Wednesday that he interviewed Toerner in Okinawa, Japan, after he had transferred to the naval base there.

Initially, Toerner minimized his role in the slaying, saying he was asleep in the back of a car rented by Butler that was parked in the driveway next to Marmo's car, according to Evans. Toerner said they waited for 30 minutes, then Butler woke him up, and he shot Marmo, Evans testified.

Later, Toerner said he shot Marmo in the back to protect Butler, who claimed he was beating her up, Evans said. Toerner didn't get any money for shooting Marmo, said Evans.

A couple of days before the slaying, Butler and Toerner were across the street from Marmo's house, and she wanted him to go and shoot Marmo, Evans testified.

"They were confronted by a neighbor and left," said Evans.

"Did you get a sense that he (Toerner) was very remorseful?" asked Simon.

"Extremely," Evans replied.

Toerner wiped away tears as he sat next to his lawyer, Robert "Bobby" Schwartz, who quickly questioned how Evans got statements from his client.

Schwartz asked whether Toerner had waived his constitutional rights and whether he was told that he was a suspect.

Evans said he read him everything on the Miranda Rights card. According to Evans, Toerner said Butler was determined to kill Marmo.

"I've got to get this done. I am going to die if I don't," Evans said Butler told Toerner.