Youth Says He, 3 Others Executed Boy, 16 : Court: He testifies that a noose made from a guitar string was used to strangle victim, who was thrown over a San Pedro cliff. The defense blames the killing on a paramilitary group.

A 17-year-old testified Wednesday that he and three teen-age friends from Polytechnic High School in Long Beach brutally executed a classmate last year near a desolate San Pedro cliff.

The witness, whose name was withheld because he is a juvenile, testified for the prosecution in the Long Beach trial of Schuyler MacPherson, 19, Bryan Davis, 18, and Mike McDonald, 18. The three are charged with murdering 16-year-old Alexander Giraldo on Feb. 1, 1992.

Defense attorneys blamed the slaying on the Ace of Spades, a rogue, paramilitary gang, and said their clients are not members.

The juvenile, who is the only witness to implicate the defendants, testified for an hour before the jury.

He described going to McDonald’s house and making a noose from guitar string in McDonald’s garage.

Davis and MacPherson later joined the boys, and the group established an alibi by obtaining ticket stubs at a Lakewood movie theater, he testified.

The boys dropped off the juvenile in San Pedro, then went to pick up Giraldo in Long Beach. When they returned to San Pedro, MacPherson stayed in the car while the juvenile and the other boys met Giraldo outside, the youth testified.

The plan was to beat up Giraldo, he said, but the violence escalated.

The juvenile said he punched Giraldo, knocking him down. Then McDonald put the noose around Giraldo’s neck, and started pulling, the witness said.

“I could see (Giraldo) struggling with the noose around his neck,” the youth said. “After awhile they switched off.”

When Giraldo lay still, the three threw him over the side of a cliff. Giraldo landed in some bushes just below, the teen-ager testified.

The boys were about to drive away when McDonald jumped out of the car with a knife, which he was going to use to finish off Giraldo if he were not dead, the juvenile said.

A jogger discovered Giraldo the next morning. Medical examiners attribute his death to strangulation and a stab wound.

Anticipating attempts to discredit his witness, prosecutor Ken Lamb had the juvenile admit to lying in past statements. The teen-ager said that he lied in a preliminary hearing to minimize his role in the killing, partly because his mother was watching.

The youth said his motive for hurting Giraldo was Giraldo’s cooperation with police in a car burglary investigation. The juvenile said he feared that Giraldo also would talk about other alleged crimes involving him.

Defense attorney Jack Fuller portrayed the witness as an habitual liar who wanted to win a plea bargain. In exchange for testifying, the witness served about 11 months in a juvenile detention camp.

“You’re free after committing this murder?” Fuller asked.

The boy paused. “Yes, sir,” he answered softly.

Fuller zeroed in on inconsistencies in statements the boy made to police or at the September preliminary hearing. The juvenile has given different versions of how the noose was assembled, for example, and what time Davis and MacPherson picked him up.

Fuller also tried to establish the Ace of Spades as the likely killers of Giraldo, but Judge Victor Barrera cut off that line of questioning at the prosecution’s request.

Barrera warned Fuller that he could not blame the Ace of Spades without evidence of the group’s involvement.