Attorneys gave opposite scenarios Tuesday as the murder trial opened for a La Mesa man who is accused of shooting a National City man who had just slashed his car tire.
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Ryan told the jury she would ask them to convict Christopher Artale, 41, of murder in the Oct., 2017 death of Aldo Alfonso Prado, 35.
“He was armed. He got angry. He aimed,” began Ryan in her opening statement.
“He was running away when he was shot,” said Ryan. “Mr. Prado was shot from behind.”
“This is a case, ladies and gentlemen, of self defense,” countered defense attorney Richard Boesen. “A murder conviction would compound that tragedy.”
Boesen said Prado sold painkillers and eventually heroin to Artale for pain relief after Prado met Artale at a party, said Boesen.
“It was a buyer/seller relationship,” said Boesen.
Two witnesses testified Tuesday about the aftermath of the slaying before an eight woman, four man jury and El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson.
Ryan said Artale caught an agitated Prado using a box cutter to slash Artale’s front passenger tire in front of his home in the 4400 block of Glen Street in La Mesa on Oct. 1, 2017.
Artale shot him in the ear and the bullet traveled up through his forehead, said Ryan. Prado was rushed to a hospital and had surgery to remove bones from his brain. Ryan said he had facial and skull fractures.
Prado died two days later. Members of his family sat in the courtroom audience.
Boesen said the National City man had assaulted Artale six times previously. He said Prado held up a box cutter to Artale’s head.
When Artale pulled a gun, Boesen said Prado responded by saying “You’re not going to shoot me!” Boesen said Artale saw him “stabbing a tire,” an action that caused Artale to be “worried he was going to enter his home.”
Boesen acknowledged that Artale shot Prado. Artale legally owned his gun and was trained to use it, he added.
Artale and Prado were friends, and Ryan acknowledged that both were drug users.
“I saw a body lying in the street,” said a neighbor, Michael Klein, who said he saw “a folding box cutter” within two feet of the body.
Klein said he saw Artale’s mother nearby and she told him this: “He shot him. He had a knife.”
Jiel Kyle said he was in the neighborhood, looking for a friend’s birthday party on that street. He said he heard the sound of “air being let out” of a tire.
“I saw a guy kneeling at the truck, puncturing the tire,” said Kyle, adding he saw Artale display “a shooter stance” before firing a shot.
Artale has pleaded not guilty. He remains in jail on $1.5 million bail.
