The Santa Rosa woman at the center of a deadly love triangle testified Thursday that the man she had been carrying on an affair with sold drugs and slept with a gun under his pillow.
Garicka Rush, 33, said ex-Sonoma County jail guard Jack Romero was frequently armed and even threatened to shoot her jealous boyfriend, Ryan Dietz, 30.
At one point, Rush said she warned Dietz, the live-in father of three of her four children, not to confront Romero about their relationship.
"I told him that he was someone he didn't want to f--- with," Rush said on the witness stand.
Prosecutors believe Dietz ignored the warning and shot Romero to death June 28 outside a downtown brew pub where Romero and Rush met for drinks.
Rush was testifying for the second straight day in a preliminary hearing for Dietz, who is charged with murder.
He was arrested the day after the slaying when police tailed Rush to several retail store trash containers, where she admitted dumping ammunition at Dietz's request in an apparent effort to conceal evidence.
Rush was charged as an accessory but has agreed to testify against Dietz exchange for probation.
Her cross-examination was interrupted by testimony from another witness who was arrested when she didn't respond to a subpoena.
Alexandra Prada, 23, identified Dietz as the man she saw leaving the scene of the homicide 10 months ago.
Prada explained that she was fixing a flat tire with friends in front of City Hall when she heard shots ring out.
Prada said she ran toward D Street in time to see a man tuck a gun in his coat, walk to a minivan and drive away.
Under questioning from prosecutor Jane Murray, Prada looked around to see if she could recognize the man in court.
She paused, looked at her hands and pointed to Dietz, who was sitting a few feet away in a blue jail uniform like the one she had on.
"He's wearing the same clothing I'm wearing," Prada said quietly.
Family members of the victim wept as she identified the man prosecutors believe killed Romero outside a Third Street Aleworks.
However Prada, who claimed to have a photographic memory, appeared less sure it was Dietz under cross-examination from defense attorney Paul Lozada.
She admitted she couldn't pick Dietz out of photo and live lineups within days of the shooting and had only seen a portion of his jaw.
After Lozada suggested she was relying on his jail clothing to make the connection, Prada conceded Dietz "looked similar to the person" she saw but was not sure if he was the one.
Prada's testimony followed by a day statements from her friend, Billy With, who also was unable to say if it was Dietz that night. He said a head injury has since clouded his memory.
Rush said Dietz was furious after discovering Romero was having an affair with his girlfriend. She admitted striking up a sexual relationship with Romero while they were neighbors in a Santa Rosa apartment complex in 2009.
She broke it off in early 2011 but resumed by June and was at the brew pub with Romero the night he was killed.
Despite her attempts at deception, she said Dietz was suspicious of Romero and confronted him at least once. She testified Wednesday Dietz dreamed of killing Romero.
However, Rush said she never saw Dietz with a handgun. A murder weapon has not been recovered.
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