A prison inmate is convinced police have the wrong people behind bars for killing three Salt Lake men last year.
Timothy Docken took the witness stand Wednesday, pointed to two men accused of the deaths and said, "I know these ain't the killers over here. . . . I think it's wrong to press charges on somebody who didn't do it."Docken, serving time on drug charges, was the second witness in a three-day preliminary hearing for Louis "Snoopy" Cruz, 20, and Alfredo "Oso" Sebastion, 27.
Both men face three counts of aggravated murder, which carries the death penalty, for the June 21 shooting of Roman Lojik, 22, Jorge Cruz, 24, and Cesar David Rivera, 23.
The killings in a dilapidated duplex behind Crown Burger, about 250 West and North Temple, were the city's first triple murder related to illegal drug activity.
Docken testified a woman who lived in the duplex with him and the victims told him she witnessed the shooting. He said the woman, Kirsten Petty, said two men other than the defendants pulled the trigger.
One of those men, Petty's former boyfriend, also told Docken he had killed the trio, Docken said from the stand.
But Petty denied witnessing the shootings when she testified later in the hearing Tuesday. In fact, she said, Docken and she never discussed who killed her roommates.
Petty's account seemed to support the prosecution's case and the words of witness Jessica Pratt - the former girlfriend of "Oso" Sebas-tion.
Pratt testified Sebastion and "Snoopy" Cruz asked her to drive them to a motel near the murder scene just before the killings. Prosecutors contend Cruz and Sebastion got out of the car, walked into the duplex and held the soon-to-be victims at gunpoint.
Moments later, according to court documents, Sebastion shot one of the men. "Snoopy" Cruz later admitted he fired as many as four bullets at the other two men, hitting both in the head.
It was not clear from Tuesday's hearing whether Docken knew Cruz had confessed to the killing.
Docken admitted he was "a dopehead" but insisted he had not used drugs in the weeks before and after the killings. Petty disputed that, testifying he was using at least cocaine while he and she lived at the duplex.
The hearing continues through Friday. Prosecutors plan to call the former girlfriend of "Snoopy" Cruz. She is expected to testify Cruz told her he shot at least one man in his neck and that the man "was gurgling" so he shot him again, according to court documents.
Four of the five witnesses who took the stand Tuesday were either in prison or jail on unrelated drug distribution charges.
Sebastion and Cruz took notes throughout the hearing. They remain in the Salt Lake County Jail on $250,000 bail each.