People did try to help Santa Ana beating victim, prosecutor says

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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

Jan. 30, 2014 6:03 PM PT

Contrary to reports that bystanders did nothing as a 23-year-old woman was fatally beaten outside a Santa Ana nightclub, an Orange County prosecutor said that as many as 15 people tried to come to the victim’s rescue.

Kim Pham died after being pummeled, knocked to the ground and then stomped during a Jan. 18 altercation outside the club.

Criticism erupted after a video of the fight surfaced, showing some people standing nearby or recording the fight on their cellphones.

But Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Troy Pino said that about 10 to 15 people tried to break up the fight, including bystanders, security guards and Pham’s friends.

Candace Marie Brito, 27, and Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, have been charged with murder in the assault, and a third woman is being sought. A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday.

Pham, a recent Chapman University graduate and an aspiring journalist, was declared brain-dead after the melee but was kept on life support until her organs were removed for transplant.

Coroner’s officials concluded that her death was due to complications from blunt-force trauma to the head.

Santa Ana police officials said the blows were from hands and feet and that no weapons were used.

Michael Molfetta, the defense attorney for Brito, said that his investigation, including statements from independent witnesses, found that Pham threw the first punch.

The fight, he said, was preceded by an argument that was started when someone from the defendant’s group bumped into someone from Pham’s group.

“Who threw the first punch is in dispute and irrelevant,” Pino said.

adolfo.flores@latimes.com

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