Fresno man admits attacking man who often paid him for sex

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A criminal defendant gave a confession Wednesday. Alfredo Chavez admits attacking the Fresno man who often paid him for sex, but the confession stops there.

"He was bleeding but he was still alive," Chavez said of his attack on Martin Garcia Zepeda.

"Was he standing up?" his attorney asked.

"No, he was on the ground," Chavez said.

Chavez admitted to an assault, but he's on trial for the murder of the popular bartender and his attorney says evidence points to another killer.

In the video, you'll see the apparent murder weapon laying right there for police to find. The dumbbells Zepeda used to work out had also been used to end his life. And his much younger sexual partner admits to bashing Zepeda twice with one of the weights when the 48-year-old tried to reverse their sexual roles.

"I hit him one like the back of the head," Chavez testified.

"(Your) left hand to the back portion of the center (of his head)?" defense attorney Ralph Torres asked.

"Yes sir," Chavez said.

"And the next (blow)?" Torres asked.

"A little right below it," Chavez replied.

Chavez told police he'd gone to the house to get money from Zepeda, and he brought a friend. Brian Munoz stayed outside until he heard screaming coming from the home.

"Who was screaming?" Torres asked.

"I was," said Chavez.

"What were you screaming?" asked Torres.

"Basically telling Martin to stop," said Chavez.

Police caught Chavez and Munoz in Zepeda's missing car hours later. The victim had more than a dozen deep wounds to his head and body and was found on his back in his home.

Chavez confessed to the killing during an interview with investigators. But four years later, facing a murder trial, he says he only inflicted a couple of the injuries. And, he says, he left Zepeda face down.

"At the time when he fell, he landed on his knees and he leaned forward and just went down," said Chavez.

He says he also saw Munoz hit Zepeda, but only once. Munoz will be tried separately for the same murder. A defense expert on DNA testified that hair found on Zepeda's body did not belong to either one of them. But when prosecutors asked, he admitted he never tested whether it belonged to Zepeda himself.