Giants fan attacked: Calif. judge to decide if Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood will stand trial for beating of Bryan Stow
(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - A judge is expected to rule Friday on whether two men accused of a brutal attack against San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium in March 2011 will stand trial.
After hearing five days of testimony, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli will decide whether Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood, who are charged with mayhem and assault and battery on Stow, will be ordered to stand trial.
Dorene Sanchez, Sanchez's sister and Norwood's girlfriend, will testify Friday. She is the last witness to be cross-examined before prosecutors rest their case. Dorene testified Thursday, under grant of immunity from prosecution, about the night of March 31, 2011 when Stow came to a baseball game and nearly lost his life.
While Sanchez never saw Stow and did not witness the beating, her testimony was critical because it placed both defendants in the midst of a fight. She testified that Norwood ran to her from a fight with blood on his hand, while her brother spewed profanity.
Sanchez said neither man told her what had happened but she became suspicious when she later saw a TV report on the beating, which left Stow severely disabled.
No witnesses had positively identified the attackers until Thursday, when both Dorene Sanchez and Mary Dolores Donely, another witness, placed the defendants at the scene of the crime.
During her testimony, Sanchez acknowledged that she had conversations by phone with Norwood in jail. According to a recorded conversation, Norwood was heard saying he had been in a fight but didn't know if it was the one involving Stow.
"I don't remember that guy," he said. "They're trying to make Louie look like a monster."
Dorene Sanchez had been arrested as an accessory after the fact but was not charged and was given immunity from prosecution to testify.
Both men have pleaded not guilty.