By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Edward O'Connor described his trip from Texas to Cincinnati three years ago as a quiet, uneventful journey with an old friend who needed a ride.

But prosecutors say O'Connor is leaving out a few details - like the part where he shoots his old friend eight times, tosses his body in a trash bin and sets him on fire.

In testimony Wednesday at his murder trial, O'Connor denied harming his friend, Roberto Valedez, and said he does not know anything about his death.

"I wasn't planning to kill anybody," O'Connor said in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. "I didn't kill anybody."

Assistant prosecutor David Prem has described O'Connor as a drug dealer who sent Valedez to Cincinnati in 2000 with 100 pounds of marijuana. He said Valedez sold the drugs, as O'Connor had instructed, but kept thousands of dollars in profit for himself and blew the money on prostitutes, drugs and trips to an amusement park with his children.

When O'Connor confronted him, Prem said, Valedez blamed his partners in Cincinnati for taking the money.

Prem said O'Connor drove with Valedez to Cincinnati in November 2000 to find out what happened to the money, and to punish whoever took it. He said Valedez knew he was in trouble and told his son that O'Connor "is going to kill me."

But in his testimony, O'Connor said he knew nothing about illegal drugs. He said Valedez told him he needed a ride to clear up some legal and financial problems, and that he agreed to drive him.

He said Valedez was alive when he dropped him off with friends at a Kenwood home and headed back to Texas. He said the only thing he knew about the drug trade is what he learned from watching "movies like Scarface."

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations today. If convicted, O'Connor could face up to life in prison.