RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- One of three Pomona men charged in the slaying of a prostitute in Ontario spent a second day on the witness stand today in the murder trial of his two co-defendants.
Donald Ray Walker's testimony in West Valley Superior Court was dominated by a video played for jurors of the police interrogation after his arrest.
In the first two hours and 20 minutes of the interrogation, Walker denied his involvement in Kimberly Michelle Sum's death, and did not implicate his two alleged co-conspirators.
Today was the third day of testimony in Matthew James McClane and Larry Darnell Shyne's trial.
Shyne, Sum's alleged former pimp, is accused of plotting to rob the 41-year-old call girl, and McClane is accused of shooting Sum in the chest during the attempted robbery at the Hotel Indigo.
Walker, who went to Sum's room with McClane in the robbery attempt, agreed to testify against Shyne and McClane in exchange for a reduced prison sentence of 17 years.
In two days of the witness stand, Walker has detailed the robbery that ended unexpectedly in Sum's shooting on Dec. 19, 2008, and said he could be killed in retaliation for his testimony.
Shyne's attorney, David Call, implied in his cross-examination that Walker, 23, has lied about Sum's killing to spare himself a life prison sentence.
"That's because you're lying once again, aren't you?" Call said in a typical response to one of Walker's statements.
After Walker was arrested by Ontario police on March 12, 2009, detectives interrogated him at the police station for about four hours, Judge Stephan Saleson told jurors.
In the portion of the interview shown today, Ontario police Detective Jeffrey Wentz and Pomona police Detective Greg Freeman implored Walker to tell the truth about the shooting.
"You're crazy not to tell Detective Wentz what happened," Freeman told Walker.
During the interview, Wentz and Freeman showed Walker security camera footage from the hotel that pictured two men -- allegedly Walker and McClane -- enter Sum's room the night of the shooting, and run out about a minute and a half later.
"There's a thousand and one people that look like me," Walker said after seeing the footage.
The detectives told Walker he should confess to his role in the shooting, and they predicted McClane would identify Walker as the shooter.
"You not trying to explain that will haunt you for the rest of your life," Wentz told him.
McClane did not speak to officers when he was arrested, according to police reports.
The remainder of Walker's interrogation video is expected to be shown Monday when Walker retakes the witness stand.