Witnesses Testify They Can’t Identify Gunman : Courts: Account of a thin-faced white man killing a Thousand Oaks woman seems to help case against one defendant.

Two witnesses to the drive-by slaying of a Thousand Oaks woman last May testified Wednesday that they could not identify the man they saw fire shots from an open sunroof.

But both witnesses said they were positive that he was a white man with a thin face.

However vague, that description was enough to bolster the case of Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn, who is prosecuting Scott M. Kastan, 18, and Patrick H. Strickland, 22, in the killing of Jennifer Jordan on May 31.

According to the scenario that Glynn has outlined for the Ventura County Superior Court jury, gang members Kastan and Strickland were in the back seat of a black BMW as it cruised by a house on Houston Drive where rival gang members were attending a party. According to Glynn, Kastan stood up and fired several shots, one of which struck Jordan in the head and killed her.

Kastan’s attorney, James Edward Blatt, suggested Wednesday that it could have been Strickland, a light-skinned African-American, whom the witnesses saw.

But both said they were sure that it was not Strickland.

“I’m absolutely positive it was a white male,” said the first witness, Wahlid Haddad of Thousand Oaks.

“I’m certain it was not Ricky Strickland,” said the other witness, former Thousand Oaks resident Nick Uglesich, who said he knew Strickland from high school.

Strickland’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joseph VillaSana, has conceded that his client was in the car but said Strickland had no idea that Kastan planned to shoot anyone. Glynn insists that Strickland was a knowing participant in the slaying.

Neither Blatt nor VillaSana has denied that his client was in the car, so the witnesses’ elimination of Strickland as the gunman appeared to strengthen the case against Kastan.

Haddad and Uglesich gave essentially the same account:

They left the party about 9:15 p.m. to buy more beer. As they reached their parked pickup truck, the BMW drove by and a thin-faced white man told the driver to slow down. Then, the man yelled gang slogans, fired two shots at the pickup and aimed several more shots at the garage of the house, where Jordan was struck. The car then sped away.

Toward the end of his testimony, Haddad caused a stir when he mentioned that he sometimes wears glasses but was not wearing them on the night of the shooting.

But he said he passed a driver’s test without his glasses and normally uses them only for reading and doing paperwork at the service station that he manages.

“I don’t need them, but it’s easier to read with them,” Haddad said.

Glynn apparently settled the matter by having the witness tell the time on the courtroom clock, which was on a wall that has been officially measured at 39 feet from the witness stand.

“It’s between 1:47 and 1:48,” Haddad said, stating the time correctly.

The trial resumes today before Judge Lawrence Storch.