By Brinda Kalita and Ramneet Singh
WOODLAND, CA- The jury trial for Jesus Campos and Chandale Shannon, Jr., proceeded in Yolo County Superior Court on Tuesday with more witness testimonies.
Campos and Shannon, Jr., are being charged for the murder and kidnapping of two teenage boys, Ellijah Moore and Enrique Rios. Veronica Miller covered the first part of this trial.
See Monday in Vanguard: https://davisvanguard.org/2022/03/trial-continues-in-murder-of-two-teens-in-drug-theft/
The first witness called to the stand Tuesday was the grandmother of one of the teen victims, who said the teen visited her for food often.
During one of his visits, the teen proudly declared that he was going to become a successful construction worker and then left for his mom’s house. Since then, the grandmother said she had no contact with the teen. 
The second witness to be called was the ex-wife of a friend of one of the teens, who said the teen would often come and listen to music with her ex-husband, and that her ex considered the teen his little brother.
However, she and her ex only discovered that the teen was missing via social media. When the ex-husband found out, he was filled with “mixed emotions.”
The jury then asked if the ex-wife remembered the last date the teen came to her home. She replied that she did not.
The third witness called was the mother of one of the teens, who revealed that she was aware that her son used marijuana and smoked with his friends.
However, she said she believed that her son was always very responsible, and that he kept his grades up despite smoking, came home at his designated curfews, and called her after finishing his activities.
On the day of the incident, however, the mother admitted that her son was not acting like his normal self.
She had called him five times, but he had only picked up once. In that phone call, all he said to her was that “I’ll be home in a bit. I’ve got something to care of first.”
Her son never contacted her after that. The mother then contacted one of her son’s close friends, who had sent her screenshots of some of the text messages from her son.
However, the mom did not believe that was her son speaking in the messages being sent.
“The wording and vernacular was not the way my son talked at all. In the messages, he said phrases like ‘out in the bay’ and ‘tax that b*tch.’ Those are things my son would not say,” she declared adamantly.
The mom was then asked if she knew much about the relationship between the two teenagers.
She admitted that her son was visited by the other teen involved in the incident when they were not supposed to be in contact with each other because of court orders.
Deputy District Attorney David Wilson then refocused the direct examination on the mom’s relationship with the accused, Chandale Shannon, Jr., The mom admitted that she worked with Shannon’s grandfather.
However, she did not notice any connection between Shannon and her son’s disappearance until her other son asked her to stop her car so that he could talk to the accused, on the other side of the road.
During cross-examination, defense attorneys John Spangler and David Nelson asked if the mom was aware that her son had a gun and the stolen marijuana from Shannon and Campos.
She replied that she never saw her son with a gun. She had seen the stolen marijuana but did not know that it was stolen until her other son had told her about it.
The jury had then asked her if she had ever interacted with Shannon after the incident, and she replied that while she was at the store, she had seen him once and the whole time she just looked at him, and said, “He looks just like me. Do you see him in me?” when Shannon asked why she was staring at him.
The fourth witness to be called to the stand was the best friend of one of the teens allegedly murdered by Shannon and Campos.
The friend admitted that he had hung out with his friend almost every day, and they would often drive around the city and smoke.
He also knew the other teen was murdered because they would rap in groups together.
DDA Wilson then asked if he and his friend had ever bought weed from Shannon and Campos before, and the witness revealed that he had bought weed from Shannon about four to five times, but that was the only interaction between them.
He added the only times he and his friend bought marijuana from Shannon was when they were 14, which was a year before his friend was allegedly murdered.
He also said he had never seen Campos with Shannon in any of the times he bought marijuana from Shannon.
A Tuesday afternoon witness covered her relationship with the victims, the defendants, and added context.
Throughout, the attorneys would present information from police reports to clarify certain statements made. At some point, the witness remarked on the difficulty of remembering events from six years ago.
The witness partially described their relationship through “mutual friends.” Her modes of communication were through social media or in person interactions.
Through the testimony, the witness described Shannon as a friend and that he lived close by. She admitted to purchasing marijuana from him, and confirmed that she did not know Campos that well, something she would affirm later on.
The witness noted her relations with David and Jonathan Froste, but did not contact David and was not close to him.
Moving to specific events, the witness answered questions concerning a discussion with one of the victims after the other had disappeared, and although there was confusion as to the time frame, she confirmed that this happened after one of the victims disappeared and before the other did.
In this conversation, the witness noted one victim asking her to help rob Shannon and the others within the group. She understood he had already robbed them once.
When prompted, she confessed she helped “…just to get it out of the way I guess? I don’t know.” The victim did not provide her with specifics.
The witness testified she told Shannon about the attempted robbery and that Shannon acted “calm,” but David was “angry about the situation.” Jonathan was also present.
Based on what she understood, the witness described the details of the attempted robbery and her part in it. She would not pick up the call from the victim later in the day.
Next, she answered questions concerning a conversation in a Walmart parking lot with Shannon, the Frostes and Daniel Rice.
Based on a conversation with the deputy, she discussed that she was asked to help get back at Elijah and that David was upset. Wilson asked “do you recall telling the deputy…that David Froste said that they needed to get Elijah and teach him a lesson?”
The questioning moved toward her interaction with law enforcement and being asked to be wired. David Froste seemed concerned about this.
The initial conversations were between the witness and Shannon. The conversations concerned hanging out to the disappearance of one of the victims, as a separate friend was suspicious.
After a few more questions about Shannon’s messages, the questioning turned to her messages with Jonathan. This was followed by a couple of clarifying questions before cross-examination by Nelson.
The witness confirmed that the accused Campos was not at the Walmart meeting and really did not have contact with him otherwise.
In Spangler’s cross-examination, he asked about the interaction at the Dollar General and questions concerning social media.
There were some questions from the jurors about the date of the Walmart meeting and why she had revealed the victim’s plan. In response to the latter, she stated “because they were my friends” and confirmed they were close.
The trial will be ongoing throughout this week.
