Murder Trial Ordered in Shooting of Teen-Ager

A man accused of fatally shooting a 17-year-old boy was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on murder charges.

During a two-hour preliminary hearing before Judge Howard H. Shore, the shooting was portrayed as an accident by Charles Ford Baker’s defense attorneys and as a vigilante attack by prosecutors. The two sides agreed on only the bare outline of the incident.

The victim, Robert Kennedy Toman, parked a friend’s van across the street from Baker’s house in the 7600 block of Parma Way in Mira Mesa on Oct. 24.

Toman was shot in the back of the head about 2:15 a.m. Baker, 39, was holding the Colt .45-caliber semiautomatic that fired the fatal shot.

From there, the two sides offer almost completely different accounts.

Ricci Velasquez, Toman’s passenger, testified that the confrontation began after he and Toman had knocked on a friend’s window to see if he wanted to drive around.

Velasquez said Baker walked up to the van and used his gun to bang on the windows, angrily demanding to know what they were doing in the area.

“He started pounding on the window very hard,” Velasquez said. “It got to the point where I thought it was going to break the window.”

While pointing the weapon at the men in the driver’s compartment, Baker demanded that Toman get out, according to the testimony. As Toman opened the door, Baker grabbed him and pulled him out, Velasquez said.

“He hit Bobby. Bobby fell to the ground. He started kicking Bobby,” he testified.

Toman tried to crawl away, Velasquez said.

“He was pleading mercy, Baker was cussing at him,” he testified.

“At that point--several seconds later--bang,” Velasquez said.

Detective Jimmy Valle of the San Diego Police Department testified that an autopsy showed the bullet entered the back of Toman’s skull and that one of his cheeks was cut.

Citing the rules governing the admissibility of evidence, Shore would not allow Valle to testify about the results of a urine test, which showed cocaine in Baker’s system.

It was during Valle’s cross-examination by defense attorney John Murphy that the second and contradictory story emerged. The detective said Baker made one of two 911 calls that reported the shooting.

Murphy followed that statement by calling three witnesses of his own--a highly unusual move in a preliminary hearing.

Colleen Thorpe, who lives three houses away from Baker, testified that she was awakened by noise that sounded like rocks being thrown against something, and then she heard yelling.

“I believe that it was ‘What are you doing out here? What are you doing that for?’ ” Thorpe said.

She said she saw a fight in which Baker and Toman were equal participants.

“I saw a struggle outside of the van. . . . Eventually during the struggle I saw the flash of the gun,” Thorpe testified.

Just after the gunshot, Thorpe said, she heard Baker scream, “Oh my God, oh my God . . . call the police!”

Her testimony was largely reiterated by her husband, Stephen. Both said that at no time was Toman on the ground, nor did Baker ever kick the teen-ager.

Shore, comparing the situation to that of a police officer, said Baker must stand trial on murder charges. “If a police officer cannot perform this type of behavior, then a private citizen certainly cannot,” the judge said.

“That’s the difference between a society ruled by vigilante action and a society based on rule of law,” he said.

Baker will continue to be held in lieu of $250,000 bail, Shore ruled. Baker is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on Dec. 23.