A man from Redwood City, Calif., pleaded not guilty in the 2004 death of a Castro Valley tire shop manager who was to testify against him in court.
Prisheen Sanjay Krishna, 36, was shot and killed outside his home in Oct. 26, 2004, the day before he was scheduled to testify against a customer in court, according to local media.
Krishna was the manager of RyNck Tires in Castro Valley in 2003 when the customer fled the tire store without paying a $2,700 bill. The customer was later charged with grand theft auto.
Krishna had previously testified at the man’s parole revocation hearing, resulting in the customer returning to jail. The customer had previous felony convictions of battery, robbery and perjury. The shop manager had notified his family that he was afraid to testify again against his customer because in 2000 the customer cheated the shop out of another auto bill and the next day robbed them at gunpoint, police said.
The defendant in the murder trial was found to be carrying handwritten notes containing Krishna’s personal information, including directions to his house and license plate numbers for Krishna’s wife’s car and a rental car that the victim drove two weeks before the killing, according to police.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 2. The defendant is being held in jail without bail.
