A man was shot dead and his girlfriend was shot in the face, because a neighbor got fed up with petty thieving from the man who lived across the street, it was suggested in courthouse testimony today.

Diego Arturo Martinez, 20, is charged with murder in the shooting death of Robert Robbins, 47, in Oceanside last August.

Lisa Badgett, the 49-year-old girlfriend of the man who was shot dead, was reportedly sitting in the driver’s seat of a truck, in the street between the two homes, when the shooting started. Her boyfriend, Robbie Robbins, was in the passenger seat.

The woman testified today that she was shot in the face and the arm, immediately before her boyfriend was fatally shot in his face, neck, chest, arms and legs. Lisa Badgett identified defendant Diego Arturo Martinez as the man who shot her that night, just after midnight, in the early morning minutes of August 30, 2012.

Detective Torino Valdovinos testified today that he spoke with Diego Arturo Martinez the same day as the shooting, after the suspect was arrested, in an interview recorded at Oceanside Police headquarters. The two men were speaking Spanish, the detective said, when Martinez told him he had caught Robert Robbins stealing or siphoning gasoline from his family’s vehicles. The defendant also stated that he saw Robbins take a “black bag” from the Martinez’ garage, according to the detective.

Diego Arturo Martinez and Robert Robbins lived across the street from each other in the 4700 block of Calle Solimar, according to testimony.

Martinez was ordered to face charges of murder and attempted murder, and special allegations of personal use of a firearm, at the end of the preliminary hearing today. The defendant pleads not guilty, and is next due in court on February 20.

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Image: Diego Arturo Martinez, 20, pleads not guilty. Photo Weatherston.