Witness refuses to testify about 1994 murders

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- For the second day, a key witness refused to answer questions in court.

"I hereby order you to answer the questions that were posed to you by counsel and will be posed to you by counsel," Judge Heather Mardel Jones said on Wednesday. "Do you intend to comply with my order?"

"No," Stanley Michael Skala said. He was brought in from state prison to testify about the deaths of two teenagers.

AJ and Danny Hernandez died in 1994 after being shot near a Kingsburg orchard. Skala later admitted and pleaded guilty to their murders.

Investigators say he was a hitman, paid off by Jerry Rodriguez.

"He was the mastermind behind a senseless and completely unnecessary execution," Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told Action News.

Rodriguez was convicted of murder for that involvement and sentenced to California's death row nearly 30 years ago. Now, he is asking the court for a new sentence under a 2018 law.

"If someone was not a principal in the case -- was not someone who helped, or counseled, or directed the murder -- If they're not in that category, they should be reconsidered as to what their sentence was," Action News' Legal Analyst Tony Capozzi said.

That law puts the burden on prosecutors to essentially re-argue that Rodriguez was a major participant in the murders.

But since the hitman will not testify, he is not telling prosecutors if the orders to kill came from Rodriguez.

The defense used Skala's silence as an opportunity and called on a private investigator to testify about jailhouse conversations that date back years.

"He indicated that the crime was done at the behest of a mutual friend or mutual associate of Jerry and Stanley Skala," investigator Sean Shopes said.

"The fact that there was a third person involved doesn't mean it wasn't Rodriguez that told him to do what he did," Capozzi said.

The judge is now reviewing evidence and is set to rule on Rodriguez's death sentence in April.

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