Saturday, March 6, 2010

Fresno, CA: Murder Trial Begins for Deadly Shooting near Chuck E. Cheese

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The attorney for a Fresno man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in front of the northwest Fresno Chuck E. Cheese is claiming it was self defense.

STORY: Suspect in Fresno Chuck E. Cheese's shooting arrested
The murder trial against Manuel "George" Mancilla started Friday and we have new surveillance video of the scene that you'll only see on ABC30.

Mancilla doesn't deny he pulled the trigger and killed Victor Cedano in front of his own kids and not far from dozens more kids inside Chuck E. Cheese.

But in the new video, Mancilla's attorney believes there's evidence that helps his client. People's Exhibit 74 is the public's first look at the moments before Mancilla shot and killed Cedano.

The video shows Mancilla using his SUV to block in a car, then a few chaotic exchanges. Mancilla is later seen walking toward the restaurant that recorded the surveillance video. Police officers say he loaded his gun there.

"He was either what I call 'racking his round' or placing one bullet at a time into his weapon, into the gun," testified Officer Gabriel Ramirez of the Fresno Police Department.

Mancilla admits he used the gun to shoot Cedano and prosecutors say he planned the deadly confrontation.

They say he made threats for weeks against Cedano for dating the mother of Mancilla's two children.

But his defense attorney says another video from inside Chuck E. Cheese shows that he had no such plan.

"He didn't wake up that day planning to have this fight or have it go the way it did," said defense attorney Scott Baly. "He woke up planning to spend the day with his kids at Chuck E. Cheese."

Baly says his client shot in self-defense after two punches from Cedano, who outweighed Mancilla by 50 pounds.

A manager at Chuck E. Cheese testified that she saw the punches while trying to stop the argument, then she heard one gunshot and saw Mancilla speed away.

"I don't think those are necessarily the actions of a guilty person at all," said Baly. "It's the actions of a person who wants to avoid conflict."

Mancilla's two kids were in the SUV he was driving and were still in the parking lot when their father shot and killed Cedano.

Their mother is set to testify on Monday.

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