Assistant District Attorneys Willie Saunders (from left) and Patricia Johnson huddle with District Attorney Danny Craig before the jury enters the courtroom in the RICO trial. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

''It was coming by our house at least twice a day,'' Mrs. Kitchens testified Wednesday in Richmond County Superior Court. Once, using the guise of asking for directions, she got a good look at the driver; it was Ronald Coleman Jr., she testified.

Mr. Coleman, 29, Carlston W. Coleman, 30, Kendric Dudley, 30, Ronnie B. Overton Jr., 22, Jarman L. Harold, 24, and Charles D. Winters, 28, have pleaded innocent to charges of violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.

In the second day of testimony, prosecutors began presenting witnesses such as Mrs. Kitchens, who lived not far from Ronald Coleman's home when her car was stolen, to try to convince the jury that the suspects played various roles in a criminal enterprise.

The RICO charge includes as elements the theft of Mrs. Kitchens' Buick in July 1994 and the theft of two new Mitsubishi vehicles stolen from a Columbia dealership and later found in Ronald Coleman's possession in November 1995, according to witnesses who testified Wednesday.

Ronald Coleman pleaded guilty to theft by receiving in both vehicle cases. He also pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana in Lexington, S.C. That conviction arose from a traffic stop when a state highway patrolman found 3 ounces of marijuana concealed in Mr. Coleman's pants and an additional 4.7 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of a car.

Attorneys for the other defendants in the case on trial Wednesday brought out on cross-examination of law enforcement officers that only Ronald Coleman was arrested in those incidents and that no conspiracy was suspected at the time of those arrests.

Many more days of testimony are expected in the trial. Key witnesses have yet to be called to tell the jury about the execution-style deaths of Ryan J. Singh, 21, and Manuel B. Arroyo, 19, on July 24, 1997, and the robbery and killing of Sam's Club Manager David Holt, 45, on June 21, 1998.

The events leading to the killings of Mr. Singh and Mr. Arroyo are also part of the RICO charge against all six men. Although the victims were killed in Warren County - the only county where any possible murder charges can be raised - prosecutors here alleged Mr. Singh and Mr. Arroyo were held against their will and severely beaten in an Augusta apartment.

Only Ronald Coleman and Carlston Coleman, who are not related, face charges related to Mr. Holt's case. Because Mr. Holt died locked in the trunk of a burning car just across the Savannah River in Aiken County, any possible murder charges can be raised only in Aiken County or in federal court.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or shodson@augustachronicle.com.