Opening testimony in the Anthony Sammons double-murder trial Monday dampened speculation that the Omak killings were racially motivated.

Orchardist Paul Mannino said Sammons, 25, and co-defendant Scott Pierce, 20, were on good terms with victims Alejandro Torres Sanchez, 24, and Guillermo Herrera Roman, 21, when he saw them together the afternoon of the murder.

Torres and Herrera were Mexican orchard workers employed by Mannino.

In his opening statement, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ron Hammett offered little motive for the crime. He said the victims and defendants went to a bar and were partying together just before the slayings.

Defense attorney Jeff Barker argued that Sammons passed out and Pierce committed the murders.

Sammons is facing two counts of aggravated first-degree murder in Okanogan County Superior Court. If convicted, the only possible sentence is life imprisonment without parole. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

In his testimony Monday, Mannino said one of the victims described Sammons and Pierce as “mi amigos” - my friends - when the four came to his orchard about 2 p.m. Sept. 27, the day of the murders. Sanchez collected $100 of his pay during the visit.

The orchard workers were riding in the back of a van driven by Pierce, Mannino said. He said Herrera, Torres and Sammons, who was in the front passenger seat, had slurred speech and appeared to have been drinking.

Sammons seemed drunker than Torres and Herrera, and Pierce seemed sober, Mannino testified. He said Sammons admitted he had been drinking, but Pierce said he hadn’t.

Mannino said he was told Pierce and Sammons picked up Torres and Herrera after Herrera’s car broke down.

Pierce said he was a mechanic and thought he could fix Herrera’s car, Mannino said.

It was the second time that day that Mannino saw Herrera and Torres.

The witness said they came to the orchard about two hours earlier to show him the used Ford Escort Herrera had just purchased from Maria Apodaca, daughter of Okanogan County Jail commander Mary Apodaca.

That evening, police say, Sammons and Pierce repeatedly beat and choked Torres and Herrera and threw them into the Okanogan River in Omak to drown.

Mannino said the victims were so badly battered that he mixed them up at first when police showed him photos - even though he knew Torres well.

Torres, whom Mannino praised as a good worker, had just packed his bags to return to Mexico and see his month-old baby for the first time.

Herrera also lived in Mexico, and both men had permission to work in the United States, Mannino said. Torres had harvested fruit for Mannino for four years; Herrera for one year.

Pierce’s trial on the murder charges is pending.

, DataTimes