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A woman broke down in tears on the witness stand today as she recounted an incident in Berkeley last December in which she was wounded and her fiancé was killed in a shooting during a medical marijuana deal that went wrong. 

Rebekah Cleberg, 28, said she held the head of Kamahl Middleton, 36, after they both were shot in a parking lot near San Pablo and University avenues at about 9:45 p.m. on Dec. 29 and, "I kept telling him I loved him" as he was dying. 

Cleberg said she tried to call 911 to get help but she couldn't use her cellphone because there was blood all over it so she ran into the street to try to get assistance "but no one would stop." 

She said she eventually found someone across the street who agreed to call an ambulance but Middleton was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the ambulance arrived. 

Cleberg's emotional testimony took place on the first day of what's expected to be a lengthy preliminary hearing for three men who are charged with murder, robbery and assault with a firearm for the shooting: Khalil Phanor, 18, and Carl Young, 20, both of San Leandro, and Gregory Foote, 19, of Hayward. 

The three men are also charged with the special circumstance of committing a murder during the course of a robbery, which carries a potential penalty of life in prison without parole or the death penalty. 

Prosecutors allege that Phanor was the suspect who shot Middleton and Cleberg. 

A 17-year-old suspect was also arrested in connection with the shooting but he's being prosecuted separately in juvenile court. 

Cleberg said she and Middleton had a license to grow medical marijuana at their residence in Pinole. 

Middleton became a paraplegic after he was in a car accident when he was in high school and Cleberg said she started using medical marijuana after she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 1998 when she was 12. 

Cleberg said the planned marijuana deal was arranged after she and Middleton placed an ad on Craigslist to sell marijuana to qualified medical marijuana patients. 

She said she and Middleton didn't have a set price for the marijuana they sold to customers but instead asked for a donation that "was always negotiable." 

Cleberg said a man called them on Dec. 29 and they agreed to sell marijuana to him after he sent them a text with his identity card and a valid medical marijuana prescription. 

She said she and Middleton arranged to meet the man in Berkeley because it was about halfway between their home in Pinole and the man's residence in San Leandro. 

Cleberg said the meeting took place in a parking lot near San Pablo and University avenues that's adjacent to Everett & Jones Barbeque and is used by the 99 Cents Only store, a Subway sandwich store and other businesses. 

She said she and Middleton were "surprised" when four people got out of the prospective buyer's car because they had only expected to meet with the man they had talked to on the phone and his girlfriend. 

Cleberg said Young came into their car and tried to take the marijuana without paying and then Phanor said, "This is a stickup" and fired a single shot that struck Middleton and her. 

Cleberg said she lost consciousness a short time after the shooting and woke up in the hospital the next morning. 

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon, who is presiding over the hearing, adjourned court early after Cleberg began sobbing uncontrollably. Several of Middleton's family members and friends also cried. 

The preliminary hearing, which will determine if there's enough evidence for the three men to be ordered to stand trial on the charges against them, will resume on Thursday morning. The hearing is expected to extend into next week.