San Marcos — A succession of mostly law enforcement witnesses took the stand Wednesday in the armed robbery trial of 20-year-old Frank Castro, offering their recollection of events the night he and three friends from Luling stormed into a San Marcos home intending to rob a drug dealer they knew as Harry Potter.

Jurors are hearing testimony in advance of assessing punishment on Castro, who entered a guilty plea last week in a deal arranged through the office of the District Attorney.

The four, all dressed in black, burst into the home at 926 Chestnut minutes before 2 a.m. on Sept. 4, 2009 through an unlocked kitchen door. They entered the bedroom of Brian Smith and demanded marijuana. Two of the group were killed and a third wounded when Brian's brother Mark Smith, who was in the next bedroom, kicked open his door and opened fire.

Only Castro escaped unharmed, running out a kitchen door and leaving his shirt apparently caught in the door, according to crime scene photos shown in court.

Only one of the four had a real gun, while the other three had pellet pistols or rifles. Officers who testified Wednesday agreed that the "toys" could have passed for the real thing, especially in a heated situation. They also agreed Smith was justified in using deadly force. Texas law says residents are justified in doing so if they feel threatened in their own home.

Wednesday also brought additional testimony about the crime scene.

SMPD Det. Cat McDonald, at the time of the incident a patrol officer, told jurors the living room, where 16-year-olds John Alvarez was dead, Rudy Tinoco mortally wounded and Jordan Mendez bleeding from a leg wound, "looked like a Tarantino film, 'Pulp Fiction.'" She called it a "surreal, bloody scene I will probably never see again in my career."

McDonald also testified to the way a paramedic was affected. The EMT "kind of froze, like a deer in the headlights," she told jurors. "I had to yell at her to do something. 'This person's dead, this one can be helped — do something.'"

Regarding the real Ruger 9 mm handgun that Tinoco was armed with, McDonald said although there was a clip in it, "it wasn't ready to use because there was no round in the chamber."

That could be due to inexperience, she said, but later testified there was "quite a bit of forethought" behind Tinoco's fingers being wrapped with duct tape in an apparent effort to avoid leaving fingerprints. Other testimony addressing the planned nature of the crime came from a series of text messages police recovered from Tinoco's telephone.

 Det. Sandra Spriegel, lead investigator, said the texts, send in the hours before the crime, included one from Mendez to Tinoco asking "are you ready" and one to another individual who apparently backed out of making the trip to San Marcos.

Albert Larkin, a Luling resident who said he "grew up" with Alvarez and had a troubled relationship with Castro, said he knew the four were looking for marijuana but didn't have any money, "so I thought they were going to rob someone."

Alvarez' mother Mary Carmona said she was disturbed by a portion of a phone conversation her son was having on the evening of Sept. 3; and had refused to give him money because she believed he would use it to buy marijuana.

Detective Paul Beller, who was called to the scene to take digital photographs he said were intended to "paint a portrait of what happened," told jurors that Alvarez was shot once, Mendez four times and Tinoco five times. Later testimony indicated that Smith had fired nine rounds, meaning at least one of the bullets wounded more than one person. It was also revealed that Smith's pistol had three bullets left in the clip and one in the chamber.

When on the stand, Smith said he wasn't Harry Potter and denied selling drugs, saying instead he would "help friends" obtain marijuana, sometimes the hydroponically grown "dro" that the intruders were looking for. When asked why his home was targeted, Smith said they "came to the wrong house."

Testimony also addressed how Castro came to be taken into custody. Paramedic Christopher Hempel said his ambulance was parked with lights out a slight distance from the house, waiting for police to say it was safe to proceed, when a shirtless man approached and wanted to know what was going on and "if everyone was OK."

"I told him to stay away from there, to not approach, just go home." Hempel testified that the young man, later identified as Castro, commented that he "couldn't go home because he did not have a ride."

Castro also approached Det. Rich Mizanin, who was setting up a perimeter to keep people away from the scene. Mizanin testified Castro was "sweating profusely" but kept trying to get past him. "I told him if he didn't stop I would put him in handcuffs. He basically said go ahead."

Mizanin said he soon suspected Castro was involved. He even asked him where his shirt was, and said Castro answered "by the back door." He read Castro his Miranda warning and held him in his patrol car until another officer took him to police headquarters for a video interview with Det. John Reeder, who was the final witness on Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorneys Fred Weber and David Levingston are prosecuting the case in District Judge Bill Henry's courtroom before a jury of six men and six women with a female alternate.

Castro, 17 at the time, was the oldest in the group and was originally charged with capital murder. Two plea bargains had been proposed in the case but one was turned down by Castro and the other by Judge Henry. Castro has been jailed since his arrest.

While questioning Carmona, defense attorney Lynn Peach, noting she would be asking the jury to grant her client probation, asked the grieving mother if she held Castro responsible for her son's death.

"No, but some of my family does," she answered. As for why, "Because he didn't get shot. Because they think he's the leader."

Testimony continued today.