Murder defendant Robert Roberts listens during his opening statement on Monday.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The trial of Robert Roberts and Sebastian Parra, accused of killing a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation counselor while charging an electric vehicle, has entered its second day.
17 News will be blogging live as the day unfolds. Scroll down to see the latest updates.
Benny Alcala Jr. was shot and killed on the evening of August 24, 2022 near Target’s loading stations on Stockdale Highway.
Prosecutor John Allen said Alcala was killed when Roberts and Parra tried to rob him. He said Roberts was the shooter and Parra gave him the gun.
Assistant Public Defender Gordon Lake is representing Roberts. Defense attorney Timothy Hennessy is representing Parra. Each says the other’s client is responsible for Alcala’s death.
Today we started late. For unknown reasons, the hearing began at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. as planned.
Firefighter David Reyes was called to the stand. He now works outside the county but was a Bakersfield firefighter at the time of Benny Alcala’s death.
He testified that when they arrived at Alcala’s location, they saw a BPD officer performing CPR. Reyes said he went over and took over CPR.
He said there was blood around Alcala. He had an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.
