A young boy, caught in the middle of a love triangle involving his parents and Kenneth Sosa, testified Friday that he saw his father shoot Sosa to death in November 2006.

Visibly upset as he took the stand in the Lompoc branch of County Superior Court, Issac Gastelum, 11, identified himself, then was questioned by Deputy District Attorney Steve Foley.

“How did Kenny die?” asked Foley.

“He got shot,” Issac Gastelum said.

“Who shot him?”

“My dad.”

The youngster's father, Joe Rodriguez Gastelum Jr., 35, and Kristopher Michael Blehm, 24, are charged with homicide as principles in Sosa's death. The boy's aunt, Christina Rodriguez Gastelum, 36, is charged with being an accessory to homicide after the fact. All three of them were in court Thursday and Friday for a preliminary hearing. Arraignment was set for Sept. 22 in Santa Maria.

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On the day of the shooting, the boy said, his mother, Lisa Gastelum, had been in an argument with Sosa over a house key that she wanted to retrieve. After she parked her car behind his in the 500 block of N. Street, Joe Gastelum arrived and pulled alongside Sosa's car, got out and shot him.

Issac said his father then drove away. He identified Blehm as being in the passenger seat of the car driven by his father. Police testified that Blehm provided Gastelum the gun used in the shooting.

Foley said the motive for the killing was that Joe Gastelum, who had been released from prison less than a week earlier, was upset that while he was incarcerated his wife and Sosa had started a relationship.

“Joe and Kenny had a beef,” said Lompoc Police Sgt. Joe Bailey.

Bailey testified that a jail inmate told him he had done some target practice with a revolver on a ranch off of Hapgood Road near Lompoc. The inmate also said Blehm had returned to the ranch the day of the shooting, burned two pieces of clothing and asked him to destroy the gun, Bailey said.

“He (Blehm) said his homie shot some guy,” Bailey said, referring to the inmate's statement.

Subsequent investigation by police turned up several bullet casing on the ranch, and a .38 caliber bullet in Blehm's residence.

The investigating officer in the case, Detective Milt Baldwin, testified that forensic analysis of the bullets found at the ranch, Blehm's bullet, and the bullets recovered from Sosa's car showed them all to be of the same make and model, and fired from a similar firearm.

Defense attorneys clarified on cross examination that the gun in question was never found, and that forensic analysis could not confirm that the spent casings at the ranch and at the crime scene came from the same weapon.

Defense attorney Robert Landheer, representing Blehm, established that the inmate was “looking for some consideration” by the DA's office to reduce or drop a statutory rape charge when he spoke with police.

Under cross examination, defense attorney David Bixby also challenged the testimony of Roseanne Wong on Thursday over what the lawyer said were inconsistencies between her testimony and Baldwin's report.

Beyond the cross examining of witnesses, the defense lawyers chose not present evidence.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, Judge Eugene L. Huseman ruled that probable cause did exist to continue with the prosecution of the three suspects.

In a separate case, the judge ruled that there is sufficient evidence to try Christina Gastelum charges of dealing methamphetamine out of her home, and child endangerment.

Glenn Wallace can be reached at 737-1059 or gwallace@santamariatimes.com.

August 23, 2008