Murder trial of Valley Stream man opens in Mineola

A Queens mechanic who died in a hail of bullets behind a Valley Stream restaurant may have been trying to pose as a bounty hunter before his slaying, trial testimony showed Thursday.

The murder trial of Orlando Ortiz, 32, of Valley Stream, began in a Mineola court with both the prosecution and defense telling jurors that victim Richard Baccus, 50, of Rosedale, died after the two acquaintances argued while hanging out together in a restaurant near their homes.

On Dec. 23, police found Baccus, a husband and father of two, shot to death in a car behind Ay! Caramba on West Merrick Road. It happened hours after he brought a Christmas tree to the restaurant and helped decorate it, Assistant District Attorney Brian Lee told jurors.

Lee said Ortiz shot Baccus in the head nine times with a .22-caliber gun because Ortiz couldn't control his anger after the two had a dispute that spilled into the restaurant parking lot.

"He wanted to have his final say," Lee said of Ortiz, who he said fired into an open car window, killing Baccus, before calmly walking away from the scene.

But defense attorney Stephen Drummond told jurors that Baccus "was a drunk man, trying to have a fight." The attorney from Jamaica, Queens, said Baccus had shown Ortiz a fake bail enforcement agent badge and Ortiz had told him he knew it wasn't real.

Drummond said the victim was upset because he wasn't getting respect for carrying the badge, and that his client, who was relaxing at the restaurant before heading to his late-night technology job at a bank, bought Baccus a drink and tried to calm him down.

"You will get to decide who was really the aggressor that night," Drummond told jurors, adding that his client, who is charged with second-degree murder, had no motive to kill, no previous arrests and had been the victim of a gun crime in the past.

But Lee said that after Ortiz's arrest, Ortiz didn't deny involvement in the homicide and even told police that Baccus had shown him a badge and threatened him.

However, Drummond said detectives ignored his client's immediate request for an attorney, and he also questioned why police didn't document that Baccus was holding a small tactical flashlight in his hand when he was found dead.

The trial resumes Monday.