Prosecutor Recounts Brutality in Trial of Accused Killers : Crime: Opening statement begins with a detailed description of the slayings of a Maywood police officer and a Van Nuys grocer.

A prosecutor told jurors Monday that he could deliver a complete picture of the “murderous, torturous” acts performed by a trio of men who are accused of killing a Maywood police officer and a Van Nuys grocer during a crime spree.

Jose Contreras, Benjamin Alberto Navarro and Edgardo Sanchez Fuentes are accused of killing Officer John Hoglund. Contreras and Fuentes are also accused of killing market owner Lee Chul Kim. The men face as many as 31 charges in addition to murder, stemming from seven robberies of markets and restaurants from Van Nuys to Paramount. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against all three.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard began opening statements Monday with a detailed description of the slayings.

Grosbard told jurors that Fuentes and Contreras confronted Kim in the freezer of his store, where he was “crying and pleading for his life.” Then the pair shot him about a dozen times, the prosecutor said.

In the Hoglund killing, Grosbard said that after the three men robbed George’s Market in Maywood, they were caught on videotape walking around the store drinking Gatorade and “just taking their own sweet time.”

They tried to flee when Hoglund arrived, but as they were leaving Fuentes allegedly sneaked up behind Hoglund and shot him twice, Grosbard said. As the officer fell to the ground, Fuentes allegedly shot him again in the back of the head.

Grosbard also alleged that during the other robberies, the various defendants shoved a gun in one man’s mouth and threatened to blow his brains out, threatened to cut off a woman’s fingers “one by one” and tortured other employees with stun guns.

Customers could hear one waitress’ “cries of pain as the stun gun was applied to her flesh,” Grosbard said.

A distinctive watch and a black-and-white polka-dot shirt Navarro wore during several of the robberies along with pictures of a red Mazda sports car that was used as the getaway vehicle in some robberies will also be introduced as evidence, Grosbard said.

Witnesses during the estimated two-month trial will include Navarro’s former girlfriend, who will testify that after the Maywood robbery the defendants were “just giggling that they had killed the police officer,” Grosbard said.

Deputy Public Defender James Coady, who represents Fuentes, asked jurors to “keep an open mind” when considering prosecution evidence. He conceded that the evidence against his client is strong.

Eric K. Davis, Navarro’s attorney, told jurors that while evidence will show his client had some involvement in some of the robberies, it will fall short of proving he is a murderer or torturer as prosecutors alleged.

The attorney for Contreras contended that his client killed neither Kim nor Hoglund. “Mr. Contreras is a robber, but he is not a killer,” defense attorney James P. Leonard said.