2 women guilty in killing of newlywed at nightclub in Santa Ana
Two women have been convicted of kicking 23-year-old newlywed Kim Pham to death during a chaotic and violent brawl outside a trendy Santa Ana nightclub last January.
Vanesa Zavala and Candace Brito were each convicted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday but acquitted on far more serious second-degree murder charges.
The case against Zavala and Brito was built on eyewitness accounts and grainy cellphone videos.
But in court the accounts of what happened outside The Crosby nightclub varied wildly and none of the footage seemed to captured what prosecutors said was the decisive moment – the defendants kicking Kim Pham in the temple.
Both Zavala and Brito denied kicking Pham and said they were only trying to defend themselves and a friend as the brawl turned chaotic.
Pham was left crumpled on the sidewalk and died three days later without regaining consciousness.
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Adolfo Flores is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He previously covered Orange County for the Metro section. Flores had reported for the Pasadena Sun and Pasadena Star-News, where he was a City Hall and public safety reporter. He was awarded a fellowship by the Metlife Foundation in Aging Fellows Program in 2010 and a second-place Los Angeles Press Club award for news feature in 2013. A Los Angeles native, Flores graduated from Cal State Northridge and is a fluent Spanish writer and speaker.
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Sept. 21, 2024
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