Victim’s ‘gang’ friends may have escalated beating, attorney says
Attorneys for two women accused in a fatal beating outside a Santa Ana nightclub said Friday they have evidence that several of the victim’s friends have “Asian gang affiliation” and may have escalated the altercation.
“It changes everything in terms of the tenor of the case because it explains and justifies my clients’ fear for themselves,” defense attorney Michael Molfetta said after a brief court hearing in Westminster.
Prosecutors on Friday added additional charges against Vanese Tapia Zavala and Candace Marie Brito, accusing them of assault likely to cause great bodily injury. The two women already face murder charges in the death of Kim Pham.
Zavala and Brito pleaded not guilty to the added charges, which now give a jury the option of convicting the women on lesser charges than murder when the case goes to trial.
City officials and authorities cautioned after the Jan. 18 brawl outside a trendy downtown nightclub that the incident did not appear to have any gang or racial overtones.
But Molfetta, who represents Brito, said he had new information that changed his thinking and now believes that some of Pham’s friends are gang members and shouted out their gang affiliation during the melee.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Troy Pino said there was no credible evidence that any gangs were involved in the fatal altercation.
“This is not gang related,” Pino said.
The prosecutor said that there were peripheral fights in the crowd during the early morning hours when Pham was beaten in which “a gang slogan may have been exchanged.”
Mofetta said a man who accompanied Brito, Zavala and a third woman to the nightclub told police that some of Pham’s friends attacked him and shouted out a gang affiliation. He identified the man as Alfonso “A.J.” Magana.
Molfetta and Kenneth Reed, Zavala’s attorney, both claim that Pham was an aggressor and started the fight.
“This is now a gang case and the victims are Ms. Brito and Ms. Zavala,” Molfetta said.
The prosecutor, however, downplayed the gang allegation.
Pino said the defendants “killed the victim while she was down and defenseless.”
“It doesn’t matter who started the fight,” he said.
Twitter: @newsterrier
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