Celebrity chef Guy Fieri testified Monday in the trial of a Marin County teen who is accused of stealing the chef's bright-yellow Lamborghini in 2011 and then shooting at a romantic rival in Mill Valley a year later.
Fieri's testimony lasted only a few minutes as he confirmed that he does not know Max Wade and did not give him permission to take his $200,000 car out of a San Francisco dealership on March 8, 2011.
Wade, 19, is charged with the theft of the car and the attempted murder of a teenage girl who had spurned him romantically and her then-boyfriend.
Prosecutors allege that Wade stole the car in a "Mission Impossible"-style heist to impress the girl, Eva Dedier, who is now 19.
On April 13, 2012, Wade allegedly drove a motorcycle up alongside Dedier and then-boyfriend Landon Wahlstrom as they sat in Wahlstrom's truck, and opened fire at them, according to prosecutors.
Fieri told reporters outside of court that he is relieved the ordeal is nearly over.
"It's been a really crazy story," he said. "You never think a car like that is going to get taken from the dealership. I figured when we sent it down to them to get a warranty job that it would come back!"
Fieri said he was in Chicago filming his show "Dives, Diners and Drive-ins" for the Food Network when he heard the car had been stolen.
"Because the cameras were running when I answered the phone, I thought 'Oh, someone is messing with me! This is a bad joke.' But it wasn't a bad joke," Fieri said.
He said the insurance company took ownership of the car after it was found in Wade's possession at a storage unit.
Meanwhile, the jury hearing the trial will begin deliberating on Tuesday afternoon on Wade's fate.
Deputy District Attorney Yvette Martinez told the jurors that Wade made a "cold, calculated decision to kill" when he drove up on a motorcycle and fired five shots at Eva Dedier, now 19, and her then-boyfriend Landon Wahlstrom as they sat in Wahlstrom's truck.
"If they hadn't ducked ... we would have had two dead teenagers," Martinez said.
After getting a break in the case by tying a motorcycle helmet Wade purchased to the one seen on the shooter's head, authorities tracked him to a Richmond storage facility where they found the Lamborghini, motorcycle, a revolver allegedly used in the shooting and other evidence, Martinez said.
"There is no reasonable doubt," she said. "He's guilty of all the crimes."
Defense attorney Charles Dresow said there was no proof that Wade had a dangerous obsession with the victims.
"He never verbally threatened either victim," Dresow said. "There's no evidence that Max was jealous."
He said, "The motive for the shooting here just doesn't make sense."
Dresow said the shooter also fired up toward the ceiling of the truck instead of down toward the victims.
"Those are not shots fired with an attempt to kill," he said. "That's what's necessary for an attempted murder."
He said, "This case is really based on assumptions, speculation and connect-the-dots guesswork."
