Kim Pham, 23 - beaten to death outside club in Santa Ana, California

Annie Hung Kim Pham's brain was "markedly swollen," although she had no skull fractures, said Dr. Eoti Davenport, a pathologist with the Orange County California sheriff's department who conducted the autopsy. She had bruising behind her left ear, on the right side of her head, on her forehead and in her eyes, as well as smaller contusions on her legs.




Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25 and Candace Brito, 27, (pictured above) have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Pham's death. They listened to the testimony silently after the bailiff removed their handcuffs.

Pham was taken off life support after the Jan. 18 altercation outside a Santa Ana night spot called The Crosby.

Davenport said the autopsy was limited because she could not examine Pham's internal organs, which were donated.

The cause of death was blunt force injury to the head, she said. Davenport also said tests taken at the hospital indicated Pham was intoxicated at the time, but the coroner's office is still awaiting formal toxicology reports.

Officer Gerardo Corona said three people from Pham's group, including her ex-boyfriend, gave witness statements at the scene. All three said Pham was standing in line when one of the women bumped into her and then "two to three females immediately began attacking Ms. Pham," Corona said.

One witness told police Pham and the woman argued for a few seconds before the first woman punched Pham and then two more women joined in, knocking her to the ground where one of the women kicked her in the head, he said.

Defense attorneys argue Pham threw the first punch, however, and on cross-examination challenged testimony that indicated Pham was attacked with no provocation. Kenneth Reed, an attorney for Zavala, introduced the idea that Pham's friends — the only witnesses to speak with police at the scene — might have minimized their involvement in what was a bigger fight.

"Did any of them tell you that Ms. Pham told ... the female that bumped into her, 'Hey, watch where you're going, and I want an apology,'" Reed asked Corona, the police officer.

"You just kind of took the story — 'She got beat' — and you just kind of took the statements of these friends of hers?" he asked. "Fighting means fighting, more than one person fighting, right?"

Pham, who went by the first name Kim, graduated from Chapman University last year and would have celebrated her first wedding anniversary last week. She was an aspiring writer whose work was published online and in an anthology of works by Vietnamese-American writers. One of her essays dealt with her grief at losing her mother to breast cancer when Pham was 5.

The Crosby is the cornerstone of an area of Santa Ana that has undergone rapid urban gentrification, with live-work lofts, bars and trendy restaurants popping up along several blocks alongside a largely working-class and immigrant downtown core.
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Senseless violence.

I think police and prosecutors are gonna have a hard time getting a conviction given the fact that those involved and the witnesses were all likely intoxicated, unless the cell phone videos clearly show what went down.

RIP Kim Pham.

Stupid senseless bullshit killing. Hang em, how the heel to you rehabilitate them?

Some of the most vicious drunken brawls I've ever personally witnessed were between women.

TWO FEMALE SUSPECTS AQUITTED OF 2^ND DEGREE MURDER BUT CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

A California jury has convicted two women of kicking a third woman to death during a fight outside a California nightclub.

Candace Brito, 27, and Vanesa Zavala, 26, were found guilty Thursday of voluntary manslaughter and assault for the Jan. 18 fatal attack on 23-year-old Annie Kim Pham in Santa Ana. They were acquitted of the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

"We think it's a fair judgment," the victim's brother, Ken Nguyen, told CBS Los Angeles. "We feel for [the attackers'] families, too. We don't want it to be unfair. But in order to prevent future crimes we want the judgment, the sentencing to be correct."

At trial, defense attorneys said Pham started the fight after another group bumped into her and her friends outside the club. They argued that Pham could have died from punches or kicks she received from others.

Sentencing has been set for Sept. 12, and that both women face up to 11 years in state prison.

Both sides agreed the manslaughter conviction was fair.

"This is what this was; it was a manslaughter," said Brito's defense attorney Michael Molfetta, according to the station. "These girls never had the intent to kill."

"I think the lesson is - when you're out drinking - have a good time, don't get offended, walk away, just walk away," said an emotional Deputy District Attorney Troy Pino, who had pushed for a second-degree murder conviction which could have sent the attackers away for life. "You have one young woman who's dead. And you have two young women who've been convicted of a homicide. Nobody wins."

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-women-fo...b-beating/

So much senseless death.

(07-25-2014, 12:54 PM)Duchess Wrote:

So much senseless death.

I tried to ignore the news this week because my stress level was reaching epic proportions. Monday it was 7-8 robberies, murders all kinds of crap on the nightly news. I will try again next week.

(07-25-2014, 01:40 PM)Maggot Wrote: I tried to ignore the news this week

I'm overloaded too. It seems like it's everywhere, death, destruction, horror & grief.

There is a shooting on the news everyday here. Or a fatal car accident. The local news runs from 4:30 to 6:30 every afternoon to get it all in. It was never like that in Clifton Park.

(07-25-2014, 03:26 PM)ramseycat Wrote: It was never like that in Clifton Park.

You're not in Kansas anymore.

Do you have security, Ramsey?