Jurors to begin deliberations next week in Alamo trial

STOCKTON — Paul Alamo testified Friday that he shot Mark Hasty only after Hasty beat his own chest and head in an aggressive manner and lunged at Alamo with a knife.

Alamo's detailed account about the shooting death of Hasty completed testimony in the case. Jurors next week will begin deliberating Alamo's fate.

Paul Alamo

Alamo, charged with murder in the Oct. 13, 2003, shooting death of 47-year-old Hasty, spent Friday morning on the witness stand. Unlike the previous day's testimony, which reduced most people in the courtroom to tears, Alamo calmly answered questions from Deputy District Attorney Lester Fleming.

"At the time you pulled the trigger, did you intend to kill Mark Hasty?" the San Joaquin County prosecutor asked.

"No I didn't," Alamo, 48, replied.

Fleming pressed further, getting Alamo to acknowledge that he'd pointed the gun at the man's chest.

"At the time you pulled the trigger and aimed at Mr. Hasty's chest, were you aware that bullets could kill him?" he asked.

Alamo paused, then answered quietly, "Yes."

Until a few days before the shooting, Alamo and Hasty had lived in the same neighborhood east of Highway 99 but never knew one another. Then, as rural burglaries increased, the Alamo Alarm Company owner began investigating them, saying Sheriff's deputies were stretched too thin and weren't dedicating enough time to finding the suspects.

On the day of the shooting, Hasty was driving around the neighborhood, and at one point stopped and yelled at the gate in front of Alamo's home.

When Alamo learned of this, he got his gun and decided to drive around the neighborhood.

He stopped at a home under construction, which afforded a view of the Hasty home, and was about to call a Sheriff's detective when he saw a man cleaning the partially finished home, Alamo testified. Alamo stopped and talked to him, and then Hasty's truck arrived at the end of the dirt driveway, he said.

Hasty got out, then went back to his truck and leaned inside.

Alamo was convinced that Hasty had reached into his truck for a gun, so he put a clip in his own gun and moved behind his car.

"If he has a gun I'm not going to be the sitting duck inside my car," Alamo said, recounting the events of that night.

Then, he testified, he saw that the object was not a gun but a knife.

"I'm looking at him, I'm looking specifically at his hands, and then the motion is coming closer," he said.

"And then he did a real peculiar thing to me. I've seen it in boxing matches before. He did this pounding thing," Alamo said, demonstrating by beating his fists on his chest and head, while Hasty's family members shook their heads in disbelief.

The silver metallic knife was about 4 inches long, and Hasty was holding it in his clenched fist, Alamo testified.

"I would back up three steps, pause and he would gain," Alamo said, adding that he was on uneven dirt and at one point stumbled.

Then, according to Alamo, Hasty lunged at him. To demonstrate, Alamo stepped down from the witness stand while Fleming stood in front of the jury. Alamo pretended to lunge at him, bent over at the waist, pretending to clutch a knife in his right hand.

It was then, Alamo said, that he shot Hasty twice. Hasty's face "went from complete total madman rage, monster, to immediate calm" as he turned and walked away before collapsing on the ground, Alamo testified.

He said he tried calling 911 but couldn't get through, tried a Sheriff's detective but got the wrong number and then called his wife.

In the meantime, he walked over to Hasty, but that's when "hostile ladies" arrived from the Hasty home.

Deputies arrived and found no knife at the scene, but defense attorney Ralph Cingcon has said someone could have moved the knife from the scene before law enforcement arrived.

"At the time you saw Mr. Hasty coming at you with a knife, what were you thinking?" Cingcon said, asking his last question of the trial. Alamo replied, "He was going to kill me."

The night before the shooting, Alamo was conducting surveillance when an alarm went off and he tracked the suspects to a vehicle parked at the Hasty home. Sheriff's deputies arrived, then returned to the Hasty home the next day.

In the meantime, a neighbor had told Alamo that, years earlier, Hasty had been accused of stealing pumpkins, then arrested when deputies found marijuana plants on his property.

Attorneys rested their case at 11:30 a.m. Friday, then spent the afternoon discussing proposed jury instructions with Judge Bernard Garber.

The judge had initially told jurors the trial might last as much as 10 weeks, but after five weeks of trial, deliberations are expected to get underway next week. Closing arguments will begin Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Stockton courthouse.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

First published: Friday, March 3, 2006

Reader Feedback

Mrs.Mark Hasty wrote on Mar 7, 2006 9:55 PM:

" Mark had a knife and said he would kill paul as soon as his drugs wore off. I took the knife from the scene. Sorry paul. "

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Jurors to begin deliberations next week in Alamo trial

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