MARTINEZ, Calif. — Accused teen murderer Scott Dyleski watched his best friend take the stand Wednesday to testify about their marijuana smoking, credit-card scams, and his tip to police that led to Dyleski's arrest.

"Mr. Croen, how do you feel about coming in here to testify?" Prosecutor Harold Jewett asked 17-year-old Robin Croen.

"Pretty shaken," Croen said.

Scott Dyleski, 17, is on trial for the Oct. 15, 2005, bludgeoning death of his neighbor, 52-year-old Pamela Jean Vitale.

Vitale, a mother of two and wife of prominent Bay Area defense attorney Daniel Horowitz, was killed on a Saturday morning in her home in Lafayette, a woodsy neighborhood some 20 miles east of San Francisco.

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Dyleski was arrested Oct. 19, after Croen told police about a credit-card scheme the boys concocted to buy marijuana-growing equipment online. Dyleski was in charge of getting the account numbers and ordering the equipment. Croen did the research.

But their plan never materialized. A sharp-eyed vendor refused to ship the orders, suspecting the cards were stolen.

E-mail records indicate that Dyleski used the stolen credit card numbers of two neighbors to order grow-lights. Vitale's name and credit information were not used, but her address was.

Witnesses close to Vitale say she had never met Dyleski before her murder.

When members of Croen and Dyleski's family discovered the boys' scheme just days after Vitale's murder, they were concerned to see her address entered as a "ship to" location among the fraudulent orders.

Croen's family hired an attorney, and the boy agreed to cooperate in exchange for immunity from prosecution for the identity-theft plot.

"How do you feel about testifying when your friend Scott is on trial for murder?" Jewett asked.

"Not that great," Croen said.

Dyleski has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and the special circumstance of committing a murder during a burglary. He is being tried as an adult and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.