Paso Robles man shot by teens wasn't supposed to die, witness testifies

The prosecution’s key witness in a murder-for-hire trial testified Friday that she and her boyfriend didn’t intend for the victim to die when they recruited three teens to shoot him.

“Me and David both discussed that nobody was gonna die,” testified Christine Garner, 26, of Ceres.

The prosecution believes Garner’s testimony, backed by cell phone records and surveillance video, links Maria del Carmen Granados Fajardo, 51, to the shooting death of her former boyfriend, Victor Sanchez.

Deputy District Attorney Craig Van Rooyen previously said Fajardo paid to have Sanchez attacked on two separate occasions. During the second attack, on Feb. 23, 2013, Sanchez, 37, was fatally shot outside his Paso Robles apartment complex.

Fajardo's attorney Paul Phillips suggested in his opening statement that testimony from Garner — who already has been convicted in the case — is not credible. And he said there is no evidence connecting Fajardo to the killing.

In previous testimony, Garner testified about an October 2012 roadside attack during which Sanchez suffered a broken arm and numerous cuts. Although Sanchez was rendered bruised and bloodied, Garner said, Fajardo wanted him hurt worse. So she visited Garner and her husband, David Hernandez, asking for more help.

“According to the defendant, it wasn’t done good enough,” Garner told a jury. “The object was to break his leg, and his leg did not get broke.”

While Fajardo had already paid $6,000 for the first attack, Garner said, she was willing to pay for more harm.

“She said if somebody would just take him out, it would be $25,000,” Garner said. “Myself and David weren’t for that.”

Hoping to avoid another physical attack, Garner said, she suggested they plant drugs and a gun in Sanchez’s car and have him arrested. Drugs and a sawed-off shotgun were planted, but when Garner’s sister, Crystal Garner, called police to report Sanchez, she was arrested for creating a false report.

Sometime later, Hernandez asked Christine Garner to call her mother and ask if she knew anyone who might be willing to hurt Sanchez for money. When Garner inquired, her mother handed the phone to a man at her house, who said he would do it.

That man — only referred to as “Jack” — went to Paso Robles with a friend in December 2012 to stake out Sanchez’s home.

“He looked like he just rolled out of prison,” Garner testified. “He was tattooed from head to feet.”

But after getting a room at a Paso Robles motel, “Jack” and his friend also wound up getting arrested, she said, though court testimony did not reveal why.

Despite those failed attempts, Garner said, in January 2013, Hernandez was still seeking someone to hurt Sanchez.

“He was working in the fields, and he met these three kids,” she said.

Hernandez told the three teens — whom Garner referred to as “the boys” — that they were to kidnap Sanchez and shoot him in a kneecap.

“But it was never to kill anybody,” Garner said.

After the teens were brought to Paso Robles, they were provided with a car. At one point, Garner said, Fajardo was with her and Hernandez at Wal-Mart, where they had the car's windows tinted.

Surveillance video from Wal-Mart, played for jurors Friday, showed Fajardo at the store that day.

On Feb. 23, 2013, Garner, Hernandez, Fajardo and a friend of Fajardo’s were eating lunch in San Luis Obispo when one of the teens called to report that he was walking behind Sanchez at a farmer’s market.

“He said, ‘Maybe I should do it right here,’ ” Garner testified.

Garner said she persuaded him not to shoot Sanchez in front of a large crowd.

When her testimony resumes Monday, Garner will talk more about the night the three teens — Edgar Ontiveros, 19, Louis Henry Madrigal, 20, and Alejandro Anguiano, 20 — allegedly shot and killed Sanchez. Phillips will also have a chance to cross-examine Garner, who has yet to be sentenced in the case.

The three alleged recruits, along with Hernandez, are still on the run, and they are believed to be in Mexico.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Paso Robles man shot by teens wasn't supposed to die, witness testifies."