Witness says McCullar killed man for spitting on him

OGDEN — Robert Lee McCullar admitted in jailhouse talks that he stabbed someone to death last year, a longtime friend of McCullar's testified Tuesday.

Toya Reynolds said McCullar, 41, said on three occasions that he killed Filiberto Bedolla Robles, 49, last year because Robles had spit on McCullar during a quarrel.

"He admitted he killed the guy," said Reynolds, who has known the accused for 20 years.

Questioned about the gesture of spitting on someone in the social circles Reynolds and McCullar frequent, Reynolds replied, "That's probably the highest form of disrespect — to have someone spit on you."

Robles' bloodied body was found in bed under a blanket in his apartment at 2560 Adams Ave. by his half-brother on Dec. 22, 2009. An autopsy showed Robles had been stabbed 14 times, particularly in the face and neck, and bled to death from wounds to the carotid artery and jugular vein.

Reynolds also said McCullar told him he "sliced through it like a Colombian necktie," (a throat slit from ear to ear).

Reynolds' testimony came during part of a two-day preliminary hearing on charges McCullar is facing: murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.

James Retallick, McCullar's defense attorney, challenged Reynolds' truthfulness and, in what occasionally turned into a verbal sparring match, questioned whether Reynolds had simply repeated what he'd read in a newspaper article to get a good plea bargain from prosecutors.

"Doesn't everything you say match what was in the article?" Retallick asked.

"No, it doesn't," Reynolds responded. "What I testified to is what he told me, not what I read in some article."

Reynolds admitted he had been charged with four felonies and prosecutors had amended and reduced the charges the to two third-degree felonies. They also promised they would recommend that a judge sentence Reynolds to probation.

"You got a pretty good deal," Retallick said.

"I think that's irrelevant," Reynolds shot back.

Retallick asked whether someone with Reynolds' criminal history would likely go to prison on new felony charges, and Reynolds agreed that could happen but added that it is not unusual for people with such things as drug possession charges to get probation. "It's done every day," Reynolds said.