Trial Begins in Deaths at Day-Care Center

The trial of a man accused of intentionally ramming his car through a Costa Mesa preschool playground began Thursday with tearful testimony from witnesses who described a panicked effort to rescue trapped and injured children.

One of the first witnesses was Pamela Wiener, whose son, Brandon, died when a speeding Cadillac broke through a chain-link fence and struck him, pinning him beneath the car.

The mother told an Orange County jury that she was fetching her son’s lunch box inside the preschool when she heard the crash.

“I started screaming for my son. I couldn’t find him, and I was just looking everywhere and asking, ‘Where is Brandon? Where is Brandon?,’ ” the mother said, her voice quivering. “I saw other children laying on the ground. And somebody said that there were children under the car.

“So I went around [the car] and saw my son underneath.”

As she spoke, defendant Steven Allen Abrams sat frozen, his head bowed. The 40-year-old Santa Ana man, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, could face the death penalty if convicted in the May 1999 deaths of Brandon Wiener, 3, and Sierra Soto, 4.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd told the jury that Abrams chose to kill innocent children because he was angry about his 1994 conviction for stalking an ex-girlfriend.

“He was taken to court and he lost. He wanted to get even,” Lloyd said. “He said, ‘I wanted to execute them, the little kids . . . was aiming for as many children as I could kill.’ ”

As Lloyd painstakingly described the crime, mothers of both slain children sobbed and wiped their eyes.

Another witness, James Popov, said he was driving near the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center when he saw Abrams’ Cadillac speed up, make a right turn and barrel into the playground, mowing down children. He saw no brake lights.

Popov said he and other witnesses tried to lift the Cadillac to free the trapped children. Firefighters eventually helped pull the children from beneath the car. Four children and a teacher were injured.

“There was no motion from the girl when she was pulled out,” Popov said. “She was lifeless.”

Charles Nowlin, who also rushed onto the playground after observing the collision, said he opened the Cadillac’s door and moved Abrams’ leg so he could set the parking brake. Abrams glanced at him, but said nothing.

“When I first saw him, I thought only a drunk person could do that,” Nowlin said. “He was very alert. He was not drunk.”

Defense attorney Leonard Gumlia told the jury that Abrams was a paranoid schizophrenic who thought killing innocent children would help silence the “secret brain wave police” who were beaming voices into his mind.

He told the jury that Abrams had been hospitalized for psychiatric observation on several occasions but never cured of his illness.

If jurors convict Abrams, a second hearing will be held to determine whether he should be declared not guilty because of insanity. That hearing would determine whether the case moves to a death penalty hearing or Abrams is sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he could be held for the rest of his life.

Lloyd said she expects to conclude evidence in the guilt phase of the trial by Tuesday.