Miguel Mateos-Martinez — on trial for the 2007 botched robbery and slaying of a Glendale hair stylist — confessed to the killing in a note passed to a fellow jail inmate, according to evidence presented Tuesday in 3rd District Court.

The note, allegedly written to inmate John Fraire in 2009, states in part: "I did a robbery a while back and the ruca [Spanish slang for girl] in the store didn't want to give up the money and pulled a cuete [Spanish slang for weapon]. It was either me or her so I pulled the trigger and she died. I guess she's related to VLT's [a gang known as Varrio Loco Town.]"

The victim, Faviola Hernandez, 24, was gunned down in front of her younger sister and brother, Aug. 15, 2007, at the salon she owned called The Shop. Mateos-Martinez, 23, is charged with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.

Fraire, who read the note in court, said it was Mateos-Martinez's answer as to why VLT members at the Salt Lake County Jail wanted to assault the alleged killer.

Fraire testified that he and Mateos-Martinez were both in solitary confinement cells, one above the other, and had tried to communicate by yelling into their common sink drain. But that method was "too loud," and the subject was "very personal and serious," testified Fraire.

They switched to "fishing," where Fraire would slide a note attached to a weighted string made from his underwear out of his cell, over the lip of the upper floor and down to the floor occupied by Mateos-Martinez. He said Mateos-Martinez would retrieve the note by sliding out his own fishing line and hooking Fraire's line.

A fingerprint expert said she found five of the defendant's fingerprints on the note and one fingerprint belonging to Fraire.

Fraire said he turned the note over to prosecutors because his daughter, who was a little younger than Hernandez, had been killed by a drunken driver in California.

"I felt really sorry for the victim's family," Fraire testified. "I could really relate to what they were going through."

Defense attorney Catherine Roberts accused Fraire of cooperating with authorities to avoid going to prison for a pending second-degree felony drug distribution case.

But Fraire insisted prosecutors had offered him no deals in exchange for his cooperation.

Fraire's defense attorney, James Valdez, added that delays in resolving the case were his doing, not his client's. By waiting until after Fraire testifies against Mateos-Martinez, Valdez said, he hopes to have "sufficient ammunition" to convince a judge not to send him to prison.

In other testimony Tuesday, Cassandra Matern, 22, testified she was with Mateos-Martinez and getaway driver, Jesus A. Jimenez, 25, as they drove past The Shop several times before parking nearby.

Matern said that she heard a single gunshot about 30 seconds after Mateos-Martinez entered the hair salon.

After returning to the car, Mateos-Martinez — who fled without getting any cash — said the victim "had pulled out a gun, and that's why he shot," Matern testified.

Mateos-Martinez also mentioned that "two kids and another guy," who was a customer, were in the salon, Matern said.

Jimenez, who was driving Matern's Honda Accord, was arrested the following day by police acting on an anonymous tip.

Matern — who was dating Jimenez, who is the father of Matern's youngest child — initially told police she knew nothing about the case.

But after police threatened her with criminal charges and the loss of her two children, she claimed Jimenez had told her details of the robbery over the phone. Matern stuck to that story, even while testifying at Jimenez's preliminary hearing in December 2007.

Matern said she finally fessed up after her sister told prosecutors she was in the car at the time of the robbery.

She said she testified truthfully at Jimenez's 2008 jury trial under a grant of immunity against prosecution. Jimenez was convicted of first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery and is serving 21 years to life in prison.

Matern said she also had immunity for her testimony on Tuesday.

The defense, who claims police arrested the wrong man, will present an expert in the pitfalls of eyewitness identification on Wednesday. The case is then expected to go to the jury.

If convicted of aggravated murder, Mateos-Martinez faces life with or without the possibility of parole. The death penalty is not an option because he was extradited from Mexico, where he is a citizen, and authorities there do not release suspects without a guarantee from U.S. prosecutors that they will not seek execution.

shunt@sltrib.com