Testimony highlights, William Riley trial

• Chris Aultman, friend of the victim, acquaintance of the defendant and driver of the car where Roshawn Pitts was shot, testified Monday about the moments before, during and after the shooting. He described Riley running out of his apartment with a gun and shooting through the windows of Aultman’s car.

Aultman said he fled the car and when he looked back Riley was gone. He returned to scene and drove Pitts to the hospital. He described Pitts slumped in the passenger seat, bleeding from wounds in his chest.

• Erica Moten, mother of the defendant’s two children, testified she had a secret relationship with the victim, also known as “Sam L,” in the weeks leading up to the shooting. She testified she had broken off her relationship with Riley, who attempted repeatedly to reconcile with her.

• Ann Parsons, Moten’s grandmother, testified she knew Riley well but didn’t like his treatment of Moten. Riley had what she considered an obsession with Moten.

When she learned of Moten’s relationship with Pitts, she said she was worried “hell might break loose” if Riley found out.

• New Mexico Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Ross Zumwalt testified Tuesday Pitts, 20, was shot from approximately 2 to 4 inches away.

Under questioning by defense attorney Luis Juarez, Zumwalt said it was possible the shots could have originated from the driver’s seat.

• Clovis Detective Keith Farkas testified Wednesday he believes Pitts was shot as he climbed over the driver’s seat and then made it out the door, ran around the front of the car and got back in the passenger seat.

• A gunpowder residue test was conducted on Riley, according to the testimony of Dan Aguilar, a detective with Clovis police. However he acknowledged New Mexico state crime labs do not process the tests so the results were never determined.

• Alison Quereau, a firearms and ballistics expert with the state crime lab, testified the bullets police recovered were fired from a gun found behind a nearby daycare center.

• Eve Tokumari, a DNA analyst for a state crime lab in Santa Fe, said Wednesday the victim’s DNA was found mixed in with DNA from the defendant on the front of a shirt worn by the defendant the day of the shooting.

• Shirley Garcia, a footwear specialist who analyzes shoe patterns and tread wear, testified castings of shoe prints found in the area where the gun was discovered matched the shoes worn by the defendant when he was arrested the day of the homicide.

• Juarez, who did not call a witness, motioned for a dismissal, asserting none of the evidence presented conclusively connected Riley to the shooting of Pitts.

The motion, given out of the presence of the jury, was denied by District Court Judge Joe Parker. He said the witness testimony he had heard had been credible, and he saw no reason to grant the motion.

— CNJ staff writer Sharna Johnson