Witness Says Suspect In Bryan Stow Attack Had Bloody Hand
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) -- A woman who is the sister of one defendant and the girlfriend of another charged in the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan testified Thursday that one of the men came running back to her car from a fight with blood on his hand while the other spewed profanity.
Dorene Sanchez said neither man told her what had happened but she became suspicious when she later saw a TV report on the brutal attack of Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium.
Sanchez said during a preliminary hearing that she waited at the car on the night of March 31, 2011, when the men went after some Giants fans after a verbal confrontation. She denied she had egged them on and said she became alarmed when they returned.
"I was scared when they both told me, 'let's get the (expletive) out of here,"' she said. "I had no idea what had happened until I saw blood on Marvin's hand."
Sanchez and defendant Marvin Norwood have a child together. She is the sister of defendant Louie Sanchez.
"When I seen the blood, I said, 'Hey, what the hell?"' she testified. "He said, 'Don't worry about it."'
"What about your brother?" Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman asked.
"I didn't ask him anything," Sanchez replied.
However, she said she recalled him turning to his 10-year-old son and saying, "'You better not say anything about this to your mother."'
Both men have pleaded not guilty to mayhem and assault charges.
The account by Sanchez came on the fifth day of a preliminary hearing to determine if the men will stand trial in the assault that stunned Los Angeles and led to added security at the stadium.
Stow, a paramedic from Northern California, suffered brain damage in the attack and is unable to use his arms or carry on a conversation.
Earlier in the day, a woman who saw part of the attack on Stow took the witness stand and made the first eyewitness identification in court of the two defendants.
Mary Dolores Donely said she was at the 2011 opening day game with family members.
She recalled hearing profanity and a scuffle before she and her husband ran toward the trouble. She testified that she heard Stow's head hit the pavement with a crack then saw a man she identified as Louie Sanchez kick him in the head and attempt to punch him.
In court, she pointed to Sanchez as the assailant and identified Norwood as a cohort who left the scene with him.
Defense attorneys questioned her at length, implying she identified the defendants from seeing their pictures on television. She said she recognized them from the incident.
Donely previously identified Sanchez at a lineup but had not been able to identify Norwood until she saw him in court Thursday. She said he was clearly the man with Sanchez.
During her testimony, Dorene Sanchez acknowledged that she had conversations by phone with Norwood in jail. Silverman played a transcript of one in which 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.
He also told Sanchez: "They're trying to make Louie look like a monster."
Sanchez, the last witness at the hearing, was to conclude her testimony Friday. She had been arrested as an accessory after the fact but was not charged and she was given immunity from prosecution to testify.
After both sides rest and arguments are heard, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli was expected to rule on whether the two men will stand trial.
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