Victim testifies in Lynn carjacking trial

SALEM – The alleged victim of an armed carjacking in Lynn four years ago testified in Superior Court Monday that two Lynn men pistol-whipped him and threatened his life as they robbed him of his cash and cell phone.?They said they were going to kill me because they knew who I was? and then throw me into the lake,” said Miguel Segura, 34, of Lynn. “I was just asking God to help me.”Brian Rivera, 23, and Luis Espinosa, 31, are on trial for charges of armed assault to murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, armed carjacking, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the Dec. 22, 2008 incident.Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella alleged in her opening statement that the two men flagged down Segura, who was delivering food for a restaurant, and asked for a ride to Pacific Street from the corner of Washington Street and Quincy Terrace in Lynn. At some point, Rivera took the wheel, Faitella said, while Espinosa robbed Segura of about $1,400 cash, his wallet and cell phone.When Segura managed to exit the vehicle and run, Faitella said one of the men fired a gun at him.During testimony, Segura said he knew Rivera by name because they had been neighbors several years before at Quincy Terrace, the same place where Rivera flagged him down for a ride on the night of the alleged assault. He said he knew Espinosa only from seeing him around Rivera?s home, and did not know his name.Faitella said Segura agreed to give the men a ride, but after he had made a food delivery Espinosa grabbed him from behind and pulled him into the back seat, while Rivera took the wheel and began driving.?Luis grabbed me from the back and, with a gun, he hit me in the face,” Segura said through a Spanish interpreter.Rivera stopped the car on Foster Road in Swampscott, Segura said. He then got out, opened the back door, and struck Segura in the head with his own gun.?I thought I was going to die, so I kept fighting,” he said. “I was struggling with (Espinosa), and I opened the door and threw myself out.”Defense attorneys Mark Schmidt and Kirk Bransfield argued during opening statements that there is not sufficient evidence to prove Rivera and Espinosa are the men who committed the crimes.Schmidt asked the jurors if they recalled a song by the musical writing duo Gilbert and Sullivan.?This brings to mind a song, and the lyrics are like this: ?Things are seldom what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream.? “Bransfield said Espinosa insists he was mis-identified due to the dark, snowy conditions of the night the events occurred, and the fact that Segura may not have had a chance to get a good look at Espinosa, who sat in the back seat.?He says he?s fighting for his life. Is he looking at the person he?s fighting with? The descriptions are vague that he gives,” Bransfield said.Two witnesses who live on Foster Road testified to hearing gunshots. Resident Roberto Miranda said Segura knocked on his door, his face covered in blood, and asked for help.?He sounded very desperate,” Miranda told Faitella. “I handed him a towel so he could wipe his face.”Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].