A Lancaster city mother of four was killed in 2011 by rival gang members, according to trial testimony Monday morning.

Diana Spencer and her boyfriend were affiliated with the Latin Kings, it was said during the trial of one of her accused killers.

That man, Jakwan Green, and two other men charged with killing Spencer were members of the Bloods, according to testimony.

"There was animosity between these two groups," First Assistant District Attorney Christopher Larsen said in an opening statement.

And on the night of April 15, 2011, Green, Christopher Lassitter and Oscar Martinez prepared to pay Spencer and her boyfriend a visit, Larsen said.

"They were planning out how they would go about ambushing anyone who happened to be at 26 Old Dorwart Street that night," Larsen said.

Spencer, 33, happened to be there and was shot three times in the chest — through her closed front door.

Martinez, now 20, was the charged triggerman and has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.

Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction this week against Green.

Police allege Green, 23, knocked on Spencer's door to lure her from a bedroom. When she peered through a curtain, she was shot dead, Larsen said in his opening statement.

Defense lawyers counter that Green had no motive to kill Spencer and wasn't armed when it happened.

"He was simply the man who knocked," attorney Cory Miller said in a brief opening statement. "It could have been anyone."

Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth began hearing testimony in the case Monday morning; Green opted for a nonjury trial.

A pair of detectives testified that they recovered five bullets — three from Spencer's body and two more from a wall inside her home.

Spencer's roommate, a 23-year-old woman, testified that she heard a knock at the door and was standing a few steps away when Spencer was shot.

"It was a hard knocking, like it was the police," the roommate testified, at times crying as she recalled the event.

The roommate said she watched Spencer look through the door's window, then heard shots.

Spencer mustered a few words before she fell face-down onto the floor.

"She said 'Oh my God, I love you,'" the roommate testified.

Three of Spencer's children, ages 5 to 10, were sleeping in other rooms, according to testimony.

The roommate, and others, also testified about Spencer's apparent allegiance to the Latin Kings. A necklace, adorned with black and yellow beads — the gang's colors — was around Spencer's neck when she was shot.

Spencer's live-in boyfriend, Francisco Camacho, also announced his ties to the gang.

"He said he was a Latin King and always wore black and yellow," the roommate testified.

In fact, Camacho was believed to also have been a target that night, according to testimony. But he was arrested just hours earlier on outstanding warrants, according to testimony.

Monday afternoon, a woman testified that she gave the charged killers a ride to Spencer's house.

That woman said she overheard conversations between the men after they got back into the car. She also saw a gun.

Some time later, the group hung out in Lassitter's basement, where conversation continued, the woman said.

First, the woman said, she heard Martinez say: "I hit her four times. The gun jammed."

Then, Green spoke up.

"I didn't think he was going to do it," Green said, according to the woman. "I knocked on the door."

However, on cross-examination, defense lawyers revealed the woman's criminal past and conflicting stories she told police after the murder.

The woman admitted she was "intoxicated" that night and didn't recall everything.

"I still don't," she said at one point, in response to questioning from attorney Christopher Lyden.

Testimony continues Tuesday morning.
bhambright@lnpnews.com