Friend testifies against man accused of 2019 Reedley murder

REEDLEY, Calif. (KFSN) -- With an accused killer fighting for his innocence, the man's childhood friend took the stand in court on Tuesday as he helped prosecutors build their case.

"What was the reason for picking Angel up that day?" Fresno County Deputy District Attorney Liz Owen asked the friend.

"We were going to go out looking for trouble," the man said.

Action News cannot name or show him.

He was driving with Angel Romero in March 2019, the same day investigators found Andres Cardenas dead in a Reedley orchard.

"What did you hear?" Owen asked.

"Gunshots ... Three or four, I believe," the witness said.

Prosecutors have charged Romero with murder. He has denied the charge and pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, Romero doubled down on that plea as he rejected an offer from prosecutors, saying he wanted to go forward with the hearing.

"I just asked him, 'What did you do?' and he said, 'I shot him,'" the witness testified that Romero told him.

The witness says it was a random act of violence that went too far, testifying that he was high on meth and saying the plan was only to rob someone for their money.

"I didn't think he was going to do anything like that," he said.

The man's testimony comes after years of saying he knew nothing about what happened.

He has now struck a deal with prosecutors, who agreed not to use his testimony against him.

Romero's defense attorney pushed back.

"And then when you figured out you could probably get away with this by pointing at somebody else, then you said you were there," defense attorney Charles Barrett said.

Barrett continued poking holes in the witness' story, but in the end, the judge sided with prosecutors and said there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.

Romero is now due back later this month.

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