Murder defendants gave different accounts of Modesto shooting, detective says

Two defendants accused of murder gave police different accounts of a botched drug deal that led to a deadly shooting in north Modesto in 2013.

When Lamar Oldham and Isaiah Stafford spoke to an investigator, each apparently minimized his role in the shooting while pointing to the other as the person who fired shots at the victims, according to testimony from Modesto police Detective Mike Hicks.

Oldham and Stafford are charged with murder in the shooting of Damian Villavicencio. They also face charges of attempted murder and attempted robbery in connection with the shooting.

Villavicencio was shot to death Dec. 11, 2013, behind the Velvet Grill & Creamery restaurant on McHenry Avenue. Another 19-year-old Riverbank man was with Villavicencio when they stumbled into the nearby McDonald’s, bleeding and saying they had been shot, witnesses told police. The other man survived the shooting.

The defendants’ preliminary hearing continued Wednesday with Hicks’ testimony. He questioned both defendants for several hours after the shooting.

The detective started with Oldham, who said it was a case of mistaken identity. “He said he had nothing to do with it,” Hicks said on the witness stand.

He then questioned Stafford, who said he called a friend he met at Enochs High School in Modesto to arrange the purchase of two “zips” of marijuana. The detective said each “zip” is 28 grams of marijuana, and that the defendants agreed to pay $250.

Stafford told the detective that he arranged to meet the marijuana seller in the parking lot behind the Velvet Grill, Hicks testified. The defendant also said the drug seller was interested in buying a gun from Oldham.

A Chevrolet Corsica with two men pulled into the parking lot. Stafford and his girlfriend, Luisa Riley, walked up to the car before Stafford got into the back seat. He told Hicks that the car’s rear passenger door stayed open because he had one foot inside the car and the other out.

According to the detective, Stafford said he first wanted to see the marijuana before handing over the cash. He said the marijuana was in a white plastic garbage bag. Stafford said the front seat passenger also examined the gun for sale before handing it back to him.

Hicks testified that Stafford said he was still in the back seat and had the handgun in his right hand with his finger on the trigger when Oldham started to walk quickly toward the car. Stafford said Oldham’s actions made the driver and the front seat passenger nervous, so the car sped away with Stafford inside before it crashed and stopped.

“He said the gun went off … in a downward angle,” Hicks testified about Stafford’s version of the shooting.

Then Stafford ran from the car, but he never said he fell out, according to the detective. Riley told another detective that Stafford was falling out of the car when he fired at the car speeding away.

Hicks said that, according to Stafford, as the car’s driver and front seat passenger ran from the car, Oldham fired a .40-caliber handgun at the carford. Stafford then threw a revolver at the feet of Oldham, who picked it up and fired at the car with both guns, the detective testified.

Stafford told the detective that Oldham later changed his clothes and washed his hands with bleach at the nearby apartment of Oldham’s girlfriend.

Hicks then went to Oldham to question him again. He initially continued denying involvement in the shooting, but later admitted he wasn’t being truthful.

Oldham told the detective he was at another restaurant across Mark Randy Place when Stafford was in the car’s back seat purchasing the marijuana. Oldham said he was walking toward the car to retrieve his cellphone from Stafford when a shot was fired inside the car.

Hicks testified that Oldham initially said he fired a warning shot into the air, but he later said he fired twice at the car’s passenger side. Then the car sped away before crashing. He told the detective he then saw Stafford run from the car, and Riley joined him.

Eventually, Oldham told the detective he thought Stafford fired the first shot inside the car, according to Hicks.

Testimony in the hearing is expected to continue Thursday in Stanislaus Superior Court. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge will determine whether there is enough evidence for the defendants to stand trial.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Murder defendants gave different accounts of Modesto shooting, detective says."