Different shooter claimed in death of 9-year-old

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003 | 9:09 a.m.

Testimony from several witnesses on Tuesday helped defense attorneys lay a foundation for their argument that Pascual Lozano did not fire the gunshots that killed a 9-year-old North Las Vegas girl.

Three witnesses testified that they were at the apartment complex near Civic Center Drive and Cheyenne Avenue on Sept. 7, 2002, when the shooting occurred.

All three witnesses told jurors through a Spanish-speaking interpreter that they saw a black man flee the scene in a green Ford Taurus. Lozano is Hispanic.

Emilio Garcia, a construction worker who lives in Hesperia, Calif., said he was visiting his aunt at the apartment complex when the gunshots rang out.

He said he and his friend were sitting in a pickup truck parked in front of the complex when the gunshots rang out.

"I heard some gunshots and I turned around to see if my truck had been shot," he said, pointing to a photograph of the apartment complex. "I saw a man that was standing over here. He got in a car."

When asked by Deputy Special Public Defender Ivette Maningo to describe the man, Garcia responded, "He was of the black race and he had a gun in his hand."

Carlos Corral, who was sitting in the truck with Garcia, said he also saw a black man run away from the scene.

"I only saw a man with a gun, that's all I saw," he said. "It was a dark-skinned man. That's all I can say because I never saw his face."

"To me, he was of the black race," he said.

A third witness, Veronica Dargida, said she was in her apartment at the same complex when she heard the sound of gunshots.

She said she looked out of her window and noticed a man getting into a car. Dargida said the man she saw was "moreno," a Spanish term for black.

"Was he African-American?" Maningo asked.

"Yes," Dargida said.

Prosecutors say Lozano, 24, fired the shots and then jumped into a getaway car filled with several black men. They say he was firing shots at a man named Robert Valentine when a stray bullet struck Genesis Gonzalez.

Gonzalez' 8-year-old sister, Heidi, was shot in the leg during the incident but survived. Lozano could face a death sentence if convicted.

But defense attorneys say they believe a man named Robert Waddell is actually the shooter. Waddell is black.

When called to the stand on Monday, Waddell said he was in the car with Lozano the day of the shooting. Halfway through his testimony, however, Waddell pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify.

Waddell was suspected in a June double slaying in North Las Vegas that left Kenneth Banks and Matthew Carter dead.

It was unclear whether he is still considered a suspect in that crime. His attorney, Pete Christiansen, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Valentine also testified earlier in the trial. He said he had fired shots at Waddell three months before Gonzalez was killed.

Outside court Deputy Special Public Defender Bret Whipple said the earlier shooting shows Waddell's motive and that his client is wrongly accused.

"We believe Robert Waddell was pursuing Robert Valentine because Mr. Valentine had shot at him three months earlier," he said.

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, prosecutors poked holes in the testimony of at least two defense witnesses.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said Garcia included all pertinent information regarding the shooting when he wrote a statement for police hours later, but he never mentioned that the man he saw was black.

"I didn't write that down because I didn't think it was important," Garcia said.

Garcia said he told police that the man he saw was black. He said he didn't think he needed to repeat in the statement all of the details he told police verbally.

Corral, in his statement to police, also did not mention that the man he saw getting into the car was black.

"I was very nervous," he said. "Everything had just happened."

In a taped statement Corral gave to police five days after the shooting, Corral still did not mention that the man he saw was black.

Corral, who lives in Las Vegas and also works construction, said he told police that the other men he saw in the car were black.

Testimony in the case was expected to continue this afternoon.