Support Strong for Pizzeria Murder Victim's Family

Misael Flores' mother, sister, cousin and friends filled the prosecution's side of an Anne Arundel County Circuit Courtroom on Tuesday as the trial for one of his suspected murderers began.

Opening statements and testimony from two witnesses took place Tuesday afternoon in the trial Vincent Ethan Bunner, 18, of the 100 block of Dunlap Road in Pasadena. He is accused in Flores' in Glen Burnie.

The court provided two interpreters for Flores' mother, who translated the day’s events into Spanish.

Support for the defendant—who wore khakis, a green button-down shirt, a tie and eyeglasses—was much lower with only his father in attendance on the first day of trial.

Each time the courtroom door squeaked open, Bunner, who entered and left the room in handcuffs and with shackles around his ankles, turned to see who was there.

During her opening statement, assistant public defender Michele M. Cinque argued that once Bunner was arrested in connection with the murder, the others she said were involved in the incident and all of their friends turned their back on him. He was the first of the four men to be arrested.

"Vinny was arrested nine hours [after the incident]. That arrest sparks a chain of events that leaves every man for himself," Cinque said.

She said the other assailants and their mutual friends gathered the day after Bunner was arrested and formed a three-point "plan of attack."

"One, get rid of the evidence ... Two, distance yourself from the guy who's already locked up. Three, blame the guy who's already locked up," Cinque said. "There are so many lies even I have trouble keeping up with who's telling what lie."

Willie Antonio McLean, 20—one of the other three suspects in the case, will testify for the prosecution, assistant state's attorney Christine Ferris said during her opening statement.

"Willie McLean ... will tell you that they all went to Mr. Wings to rob it," Ferris said.

Over the course of two weeks in November 2010, ; McLean; Shawn Anthony Johnson, 19, of Glen Burnie; and Charles Butler, 18, of Brooklyn Park with the first-degree murder of Flores.

Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that Bunner's father was in attendance on Tuesday.