Posted on 01/08/2009 8:06:34 PM PST by SandRat
When an old high school buddy offered Francisco Zavala money to be the driver on what he knew was a drug run, Zavala agreed.
"It sounded like easy money to me," Zavala, 23, testified Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court. But it turned out not to be such a good deal.
Fifteen minutes after Vincent Valenzuela, Andre Mays and Netzahualcoyotl Ramos went into a house on West Calle Colado, Zavala, who was waiting in the car, heard gunshots ring out, Zavala testified.
All three men came running out, looking "very scared," Zavala said.
Zavala was the first witness to testify in the first-degree-murder trial of Ramos.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Shawn Jensvold told jurors Ramos, Valenzuela and Mays went to the South Side home on Jan. 29 intending to rob Francisco "Harvey" Gonzales, 27, and Manuel Alcaraz, 19, and ended up killing the men instead.
Valenzuela pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the case and will also take the stand against Ramos, Jensvold said.
According to court testimony, Zavala, Mays, Valenzuela and Ramos' younger brother all played football together at Pueblo High School through approximately 2004.
Valenzuela, 21, will testify that Mays, 23, told him Gonzales and Alcaraz had a large quantity of marijuana for sale, and that he, Ramos and Mays decided to buy the marijuana using bundles of $1 bills with $20 bills on the top and the bottom, Jensvold said.
Once they were inside the house, gunfire erupted, Jensvold said.
Valenzuela told authorities he shot Alcaraz, but Ramos, 35, shot both men first, Jensvold said.
A drug ledger, DNA at the scene and a gun found at Ramos' house also link Ramos to the slayings, Jensvold said.
Lastly, Jensvold said jurors will hear recorded jail calls made by Ramos in which he attempts to come up with an alibi.
Defense attorney Brad Roach told jurors Ramos wasn't at the house that day and does have an alibi. There is some evidence a man named "Angel" was at the house that day with Valenzuela and Mays and that man wasn't Ramos, Roach said.
"Vincent Valenzuela is a liar, a drug seller and a drug user" who has a habit of telling lies to get what he wants, Roach said. In this case, he got a deal from prosecutors.
The drug ledger belonged to Ramos' younger brother, who died in July 2007, and the murder weapon was left at Ramos' house by Valenzuela as collateral for a loan, Roach said.
"Netza wasn't present when any of this happened. He's being set up," Roach said.
Zavala told jurors he didn't see the men with any guns on their way into or out of the house, nor did he see them carrying anything else.
He acknowledged, however, that he told a detective last year that the men threw a backpack into the back seat following the shooting.
Valenzuela and Ramos were angry when they got into the car, and Valenzuela told him the men inside the house tried to rob him, Zavala said.
Zavala acknowledged he was granted immunity in exchange for testimony.
Ramos, a former Challenger Middle School teacher, was acquitted in September 2007 of carrying on a six-month-long sexual affair with a 13-year-old student.
Until his arrest, Ramos was a real estate agent, said Roach, who represented Ramos during the 2007 trial as well.
Andre Mays is scheduled to go to trial next week.
● Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
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