The prosecution in the Kim Pham trial closed the first two days of its case today with two more new videos of the altercation and testimony from the third witness not to have an affiliation with either Pham's or Vanesa Zavala and Candace Brito's groups. The takeaway: All three of the unaffiliated witnesses believe that both Zavala and Brito kicked Pham in the head shortly after midnight Jan. 18 and that after the last kick, Pham became unconscious.
The three young men were together in a group ahead of Pham's in line at the Crosby the night she died. Two of them recorded video of the altercation.
]
The new videos shown in court today show the end of fight. The first one opens with “Emilia” and Pham on their knees of the side walk pulling each other's hair and punching, with many people rushing around them. Then someone appears to kick Pham in the head, after which she falls limp. The video cuts quickly after that. The second video shows some of the fight that broke out after Pham fell unconscious. The camera rushes up to a knocked-down Pham as many people, the camera man among, urge someone to put Pham on her side to avoid blood aspiration.
Aaron Renula was the cameraman of both videos and the prosecution's last witness of the day. He said that he saw Zavala and Brito kick Pham in the head, in line with testimony from his two friends Darwin Arayata and Patrick Madriaga the day before. He testified that he had trouble sleeping after the incident.
However under cross-examination by defense attorneys Kenneth Reed and Michael Molfetta, all three men conceded that their lines of sight were blocked by people circling the women fighting and that they never saw a kick actually land, they only inferred what they knew through body movements.
The prosecution will recommence on Monday. In addition to the three friends, they have also already called the first responders and the Santa Ana Police Department detectives who interviewed Arayata and Madriaga to the stand.
Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
Email:
cl**@oc******.com
. Twitter: @charlesnam. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
