SAN ANTONIO – Her testimony was part of a plea deal, prosecutors explained as Trudy Ramos took the witness stand in the trial of her boyfriend, Jose Gonzalez, 41, Friday morning.
Ramos helped move the body and clean up the blood following the shooting death of Ahn Cisneros, 40, on June 30 last year, according to prosecutors.
She has been charged with tampering with evidence and is facing a six-year prison term. As part of a plea agreement, she agreed to testify against Gonzalez.
"I helped him move the body, and I helped clean up the blood," Ramos testified.
She said she did it on orders from Gonzalez.
Ramos said she heard gunshots shortly after Gonzalez arrived at Cisneros' home. She and Gonzalez had been living there with Cisneros' permission.
She said she dashed inside and saw Cisneros on the floor and Gonzales standing nearby.
"When you first saw him, he had the gun in his hands, correct?" asked prosecutor Clayton Haden.
"Yes, sir," Ramos replied.
She said that after cleaning up the blood, Gonzalez ordered her to help him place Cisneros' body in the trunk of the victim's own car.
"I was crying ... I was pleading ... we shouldn't do it," she testified. "And we put the body in the car."
She said Gonzalez left with the car with the body in the trunk. It was later found abandoned.
Gonzalez was arrested in Houston three weeks later.
He is an ex-con after serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder.
Since he is considered a repeat offender, the punishment range he is facing if convicted is either 25 to 99 years or life in prison.
Testimony will resume Monday in Judge Lorina Rummel's 144th District Court.