Women to stand trial in fatal Calif. nightclub beating
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Two women accused in the fatal beating of a 23-year-old woman outside an Orange County nightclub were ordered to stand trial Tuesday, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Candace Marie Brito, 27, and Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, were arrested and charged with murder for allegedly attacking Annie Hung “Kim” Pham outside The Crosby Bar and Nightclub after midnight on Jan. 18.
Pham died a few days later from what the autopsy report described as complications from blunt force trauma to the head.
Brito and Zavala both pleaded not guilty to the attack. They are both being held on $1 million bail.
A 911 call from the night of the incident has been released.
“There’s a fight right here off of Broadway… There’s a girl that’s unconscious,” says the caller, a bystander who police say called authorities when Pham's friends didn't know what to do. “There were guys and girls beating her… There were guys and girls that were hitting her.”
Pham was taken to a hospital where she later died from her injuries.
“That night at The Crosby was a powder key… and that powder keg exploded and I think, if nothing else, we’ve proven in the past few days we’ve seen Ms. Pham is the one who lit the match,” said Michael Molfetta, Brito’s attorney.
Molfetta addressed reporters outside the court room following a preliminary hearing Tuesday. He said that a witness told him Pham had been drinking on the night in question, and that she started the argument that led to her death.
“I’ve heard the prosecution say it doesn’t matter who starts it. This is simply a misstatement of the law,” he said.
“It’s disputed as to whether she was the aggressor or not. Some people say yes, others say no. It depends on who you are and what you saw,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Troy Pino said. “For the purposes of our case, it doesn’t matter if she was the initial aggressor. The bottom line is she’s on the ground defenseless when these two defendants kick her in the head. And that’s what killed her.”
Police are searching for a female person of interest in the case. They say she has not returned phone calls from authorities.
Zavala and Brito could each face a sentence of 15 years to life in prison if convicted.
A February 21 hearing has been scheduled for the suspects.