LA MESA : Teller Machine Slaying Trial Opens

Attorneys gave opening statements Tuesday in the murder trial of two men accused of executing a La Mesa man who was abducted during a robbery at an automated teller machine.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys said the jury must find the truth that will be hidden among the lies of witnesses, many of whom have been convicted of perjury and other felonies.

Christopher Bell, 23, and Tyrone Martin, 21, are accused of kidnaping 34-year-old Douglas Rattray and shooting him in the back of the head Oct. 29, 1989. If convicted of all charges, they might face the death penalty.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Genaro Ramirez said the two men are on trial because their accomplice, Michael Davis, gave authorities details of the crime. Davis is the key witness since there were only “three people who saw it and a fourth person that felt it,” Ramirez said.

After one of the robbers exposed his face when a handkerchief fell off, the armed robbery turned into a murder because the thieves realized that “dead men tell no tales,” Ramirez said.

Rattray was killed in a vacant lot, and Davis is expected to testify that Martin shot the victim twice in the head with a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Defense attorney John Cotsirilos said neither his client nor Martin killed Rattray. Rather, he said Davis shot him and created a story to save his own life.