Nightclub beating: Attorney says Kim Pham caused her own death

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Vanesa Zavala, center, and Candace Brito, left, shown in a Santa Ana courtroom, were each sentenced to six years in prison for the beating death of 23-year-old Kim Pham outside a trendy Santa Ana nightclub. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Candace Brito, left, fights to hold back tears in a Santa Ana courtroom, where she was sentenced with Vanesa Zavala, right, to six years in prison. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Vanesa Zavala, right, and Candace Brito, left, were each sentenced to six years in prison for the beating death of Kim Pham. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Friends and family react after two women are convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old Kim Pham after a brawl outside a Santa Ana nightclub. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Dung Pham, the father of beating victim Kim Pham, addresses the media following the sentencing of Vanesa Zavala and Candace Brito. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Defendants Candace Brito, left, and Vanesa Zavala enter a Santa Ana courtroom July 22, when attorneys began closing arguments in the case against the women who are facing charges relating to the beating death of 23-year-old Annie Kim Pham. (Joshua Sudock / Associated Press)

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Candace Brito, left, and Vanesa Zavala enter court for their trial in Santa Ana on July 9. (Mark Rightmire / Associated Press)

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Suspects Vanesa Tapia Zavala, left, and Candace Marie Brito attend a preliminary hearing in the beating death of Kim Pham. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Borris in court. On screen is a video of the Kim Pham beating -- one of several pieces of evidence presented during the first day of a preliminary hearing for Candace Marie Brito and Vanesa Tapia Zavala, who are facing charges in Pham’s death. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Attorney Kenneth Alan Reed, left, sits next to his client Vanesa Tapia Zavala, second from left, and Michael Molfetta sits next to his client, Candace Marie Brito, during their preliminary hearing in the beating death of Kim Pham. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Vanesa Tapia Zavala arrives for a preliminary hearing at the West Justice Center in Westminster. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Candace Marie Brito arrives for a preliminary hearing at the West Justice Center in Westminster. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Defense attorneys Kenneth Alan Reed, left, and Michael Molfetta meet with reporters outside of the West Justice Center in Westminster after their clients, Vanesa Tapia Zavala and Candace Marie Brito, were ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the beating death of Kim Pham. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Troy Pino meets with reporters outside of the West Justice Center in Westminster after a judge ruled that Candace Marie Brito and Vanesa Tapia Zavala will stand trial in the murder of Kim Pham. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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The family of Kim Pham exits the West Justice Center in Westminster. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Dung Pham prays for his daughter, Annie Hung “Kim” Pham, 23, of Huntington Beach, during a memorial Mass for her at Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Mourners hold flowers and a portrait of Kim Pham as they watch pallbearers carry Pham’s casket after a memorial Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster on Tuesday. The family later took the urn with Kim’s remains to place next to her mother’s urn at Melrose Abbey in Anaheim. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Pallbearers carry Kim Pham’s casket in Westminster on Tuesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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The funeral Mass for Kim Pham was held Tuesday at Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A mourner pauses near the hearse outside Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster on Tuesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Mourners embrace after the memorial Mass for Kim Pham at Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster on Tuesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Friends and family pay their respects as they attend a public viewing of Annie Hung “Kim” Pham at Brothers of St. Patrick in Midway City on Monday. Pham was beaten to death outside the Crosby Bar and Nightclub in Santa Ana. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A couple embrace as they pay their respects at a public viewing of Kim Pham at Brothers of St. Patrick in Midway City on Monday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Candles, incense and flowers surround a portrait of Kim Pham displayed during a public viewing at Brothers of St. Patrick in Midway City on Monday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Friends of Kim Pham, 23, who was beaten to death outside the Crosby nightclub in downtown Santa Ana, embrace at the scene and memorial where she was attacked Wednesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Friends and family have left a large memorial for Kim Pham, 23, who was beaten to death outside the Crosby nightclub in downtown Santa Ana. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By Adolfo Flores

July 9, 2014 12:30 PM PT

A video of a brawl outside a Santa Ana nightclub that left a recent college graduate comatose was played repeatedly Wednesday as attorneys for two women charged in the attack told jurors their clients don’t deserve to be convicted for the 23-year-old’s death.

Kim Pham was pronounced dead days after the Jan. 18 altercation outside the Crosby, a then-trendy nightspot in Santa Ana’s historic district. Vanesa Tapia Zavala and Candace Marie Brito are standing trial for murder in Pham’s death

During opening arguments, Brito’s attorney, Michael Molfetta, told jurors that it was Pham’s own “poor decisions” that led to her death.

“She didn’t deserve to die, but the fact is she died because she took umbrage over a bump,” Molfetta said, offering jurors his version of the events that led up to the brawl.

Zavala’s attorney also said his client had been wrongly charged with murder and that she had a right to defend herself after being attacked by Pham.

Kenneth Reed also predicted that jurors will ultimately be unable to determine which blow actually killed Pham during the chaotic scene outside the nightclub.

“She can’t tell you if it was one blow at the beginning, one blow that happened at the end or one blow that happened in the middle,” Reed said of the medical examiner’s expected testimony.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Troy Pino, though, said the two women deserve to be punished for Pham’s death.

Pino said that at one point Zavala, who was pushed away from the fight, returns to the scrum and deals a final blow to Pham before Pham fell to the pavement unconscious.

“Let the criminal system do its job and find justice for the victim,” Pino said.

The case drew enormous attention after Pham’s death, in part because of initial reports that dozens of bystanders stood around, some shooting video, failing to intervene as the fight escalated. The prosecutor, though, has said that more than 15 people actually tried to come to Pham’s aid.

Friends and family have described Pham as a bubbly, high-achieving woman who recently graduated from Chapman University and aspired to be a journalist.

During a preliminary hearing earlier this year, defense attorneys painted a darker picture, saying Pham had been drinking the night of the fight, was argumentative and “lit the match” that started the brawl.

For more breaking news, follow @AdolfoFlores3

Nightclub beating: Attorney says Kim Pham caused her own death

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