Witness recalls shots

Buenaflor actually spoke to jurors via a four-hour videotape she made Monday at the agreement of all attorneys. Jurors used transcripts to follow along with the San Francisco woman who was at times hesitant and others defensive as two defense attorneys and the prosecutor tried drawing out if she actually was in the car with defendants John Navarro and Tito Sedeno.

A bad ride home

Buenaflor claims Sedeno gave her a ride home from a birthday party on Jan. 11, 2003, along with Navarro and Richard Sedillo. Sedillo, now a prosecution witness, insisted during his testimony that Buenaflor was never in the vehicle. Buenaflor, though, recalled sitting in the Chevrolet Tahoe as she smoked out the open window and loud music blared. She remembered driving on Interstate 280 and a junction onto another highway but didn't identify it as Interstate 380 until prompted by defense attorney Myra Feiger.

On Interstate 380, the SUV encountered two cars carrying Gardner and three friends. The group was driving home from San Jose to Pacifica and Gardner was sleeping in the passenger seat of an Infiniti. According to witnesses and forensics experts, 13 bullets were fired from the SUV, including four that struck the Infiniti and an Acura driven by another of Gardner's friends.

One of the bullets shot through the back window of the Infiniti, through the passenger seat headrest and into the back of Gardner's skull.

Buenaflor testified Sedillo fired a gun out of the SUV's window but said she didn't know him by name and never saw any bullets. She said she went to Sedeno's Pacifica apartment afterward but wasn't sure if she'd ever been there previously. When asked if she went into a bedroom, Buenaflor answered in an evasive manner common throughout her testimony.

"I don't know what purpose that apartment was used for, so was it a bedroom?" she replied.

Sedillo testified seeing one defendant toss his gun inside a closet at the apartment while another refilled his from a gallon-size bag of bullets.

Sedeno, Navarro and Sedillo were arrested by Daly City police a few hours later following a high-speed chase throughout the Bay Area. Buenaflor was not in the vehicle but Feiger has said she was dropped off at her boyfriend's San Francisco home. Prosecutors later dropped charges against Sedillo, believing his story that he didn't fire a weapon.

Buenaflor is only a primary witness for Sedeno and Feiger set up her testimony with experts who said her diagnosed schizophrenia did not necessarily impede her memory or ability to be a witness.

Illness and delusions

When questioned about her illness and delusions- including an October 2002 fear about snipers at her city college and a belief last week that she had been shot in the back — Buenaflor balked at answering. She didn't want to cause problems with the school and worried about making other students too paranoid to attend class.

She also did not want to discuss "personal" issues because she believed they had no place in the case.

"I thought this case was about other people," she said.

In particular, she tried to avoid questions about two commitments at psychiatric hospitals and prescribed medications.

"It seems like all you want to do is me questions about me," she retorted.

Buenaflor also appeared exasperated when asked questions similar to those she answered during a preliminary hearing last spring. Judge Joseph Bergeron patiently explained that although she might have answered the questions "last time," he was new to the case and hadn't been in court "last time."

The details come out

That hearing was the first time Buenaflor's alleged presence in the SUV came to light. During her two-day testimony, she was unable to identify a copy of her own driver's license photo. Despite that, Feiger has insisted that Buenaflor is truthful when claiming to have been in the car.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Sean Gallagher, Buenaflor paused long and often when recalling who in the car fired a weapon. Eventually, she implicated each.

"You saw all three passing a gun between them, right?" Gallagher asked.

"Yes," Buenaflor said.

If convicted on first-degree murder and the related gun and evasion charges, both men face roughly 90 years to life in prison. Sedeno, on probation at the time of his arrest, is also charged with being a felony in possession of a firearm.

Navarro and Sedeno remain in custody on no-bail status. Prosecutor Sean Gallagher plans a brief rebuttal after the defense rests and closing arguments should be heard next week.