Last Witness Called in Steffens Hearing : Crime: A friend of the suspect testifies that he told him he had broken the window of a truck belonging to a youth later slain on the beach.

A friend and former neighbor of slaying suspect Christian Steffens testified Friday that the 17-year-old defendant had confessed to him about breaking the window of a truck belonging to the youth who later was shot to death on a Dana Point beach.

The friend, Scott Andrew, 19, also testified that Steffens had shown him a shotgun and told him he might be acquiring more guns.

The testimony by Andrew came during a Juvenile Court hearing here involving the fatal Sept. 8 shooting of Robert James Elliott, 18. Steffens is accused of shooting Elliott with a pistol.

Steffens’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Marri Derby, has contended that Steffens acted in self-defense. She has argued that Steffens was terrified of Elliott and some of Elliott’s friends.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Bernadette Cemore has charged that Steffens was an “aggressor” who deliberately broke out Elliott’s truck window with a baseball bat. Cemore has also accused Steffens of punching Elliott in the face during one beach encounter and then shooting Elliott to death during a second meeting on the Dana Strand.

A lengthy hearing, started last month, has been under way before Juvenile Court Judge Robert B. Hutson to determine whether Steffens should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. Andrew was the final witness to be called. The judge has indicated he will announce his decision on Monday afternoon.

Andrew, a tall youth with long blond hair, testified in a low, halting voice. He said he did not want to hurt his friend, Steffens.

But under oath and in response to Cemore’s questions, Andrew said that about a week before the fatal shooting, Steffens told him about breaking out the window of Elliott’s truck.

Andrew said Steffens showed him a baseball bat that still had glass shards in it. Andrew added that on the same night, Steffens showed him a shotgun he was secretly keeping in the closet of his bedroom.

“He (Steffens) told me he was having some problem with Rob (Elliott). . . ,” Andrew testified. “He told me it (the shotgun) was for his own protection. He said he might be getting a couple more guns.”

Steffens’ mother, Cynthia Steffens, had previously testified that neither her son nor anyone in her house had a firearm. “There were no guns in our house,” she emphasized during one point in her testimony earlier this week.

The fatal shooting did not involve a shotgun. According to previous testimony, the weapon used was a very old pistol loaned to Christian Steffens by a young friend in Dana Point.

In other testimony Friday, Vice Principal Arthur W. Smith of Dana Hills High School said that Steffens had been suspended five times during his freshman and sophomore years at that school. Steffens was just beginning his junior year in September when he was arrested in connection with Elliott’s slaying.

Smith testified that Steffens’ suspensions were for a combination of reasons, including tardiness, truancy and “defiance of authority.” He said that Steffens had never displayed any symptoms of violence and that Steffens’ parents were “active and concerned . . . involved and supportive parents.”