Murder defendant Jerrico Lindsey "shot round after round after round at the helpless, bullet-ridden man lying on the ground," a prosecutor said yesterday in describing the killing of Benjamin Grajeda in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay Drive in May 2007.

However, Lindsey's lawyer, William Harrison, told jurors in his opening statement that Lindsey's friend, co-defendant Charles Freeman Jr., actually fired the fatal shots.

Lawyers for both sides agreed that a central figure in the killing was a woman, Melissa Ordonez, who was romantically linked to both Lindsey and Grajeda.

Lindsey, Freeman and a third man, Reginald Pettway, entered Grajeda's Kane'ohe house on the night of May 14, 2007, with the intention of stealing money and drugs, Deputy Prosecutor Darrell Wong said.

Wong said Grajeda was a drug dealer from Los Angeles. Harrison said Grajeda was also a member of a Southern California street gang.

Ordonez let the three men into the home after telling them drugs and money were there, both lawyers told the jury.

Grajeda returned while the robbery was in progress and was beaten by the three and thrown in the trunk of a white Ford Crown Victoria.

Freeman told police that he drove the car about a mile and then pulled a lever that opened the trunk, Wong said.

Grajeda ran from the vehicle and Lindsey chased him down, firing at him with a 9 mm assault pistol, the prosecutor said. Witnesses will testify that sixteen rounds entered the victim's body and 22 bullet casings were recovered at the scene, he said.

Residents said the gunfire made the quiet Kane'ohe neighborhood sound "like a war zone," Wong said.

But Harrison said the evidence will show that Freeman, not Lindsey, did the shooting. Freeman was angry because, five days earlier, Grajeda shot at a car carrying Freeman and Pettway, Harrison told jurors.

Both lawyers agreed that Ordonez set the bloody violence in motion.

Ordonez "slithered away" from the Grajeda's house after her accomplices had kidnapped Grajeda, Wong said.

Harrison called her "a snake" and said she made off with the drugs and money that had been in the house.

She reached a plea agreement earlier this month that included pleading guilty to burglary and other charges.

Ordonez will not testify in the Lindsey trial. She will be sentenced in November.

Freeman and Pettway also reached plea agreements with the state and will testify as prosecution witnesses against Lindsey.

Wong revealed that five days before Grajeda died, he had fired gunshots at a car carrying Freeman and Pettway.

Harrison told jurors that the gunfire, on Harding Avenue in the Kapahulu area, occurred shortly after Ordonez had left Lindsey and gotten into Grajeda's car.

Lindsey, Freeman and Pettway are all from the Mobile, Ala., area. Lindsey was living on Maui and running a clothing store there when he first met Ordonez, according to lawyers in the case.

After the Harding Avenue shooting incident, Pettway shipped the Crown Victoria car and a bag of guns from Maui to Honolulu, according to Harrison.

He said that after Freeman was arrested in connection with the Grajeda murder, he told detectives different stories about what happened, but did admit, "I shot him."

Wong said detectives will testify that Freeman didn't say that.

Freeman was arrested by police following a high speed chase that ended in Hale'iwa. One thing Freeman did say after police had him in custody was, " 'All this over a girl,' " Wong said.