Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Ka Pasasouk Preliminary Hearing: Day 2

Ka Pasasouk, from his Facebook Page.

10:45 AM
I'm on the fourth floor of the San Fernando Courthouse.  I was lucky to get a bench seat because the hallway is filled with people.

Unlike some of the other cases I've covered, we don't know much about the four victims.  There are Facebook memorial pages for Amanda Ghossein and Jennifer Kim, but I couldn't find anything on Robert Calabia or Teofilo Navales, (aka JoJo Burbank).  From the testimony presented yesterday, it appears that Navales probably had gang affiliations. 

10:53 AM
A courtroom is called and the hallway quickly empties out.  I now see one of the court interpreters entering Judge Giss's courtroom.

Testimony should resume sometime after 11:00 AM.  I'll have an update at the lunch hour.

1:10 PM
I'm back on the fourth floor after finishing my lunch in the cafeteria.  Not a single outlet in the entire cafeteria works.  Fortunately,  the one outlet near a hallway bench is working so I can charge my laptop while I write.

When court broke for lunch, Sherelle Evelyn Georgina Bax was still on the stand under direct examination.  It must have been frustrating for DDA Akemon because every other question the witness was asked about her statements to Robbery Homicide Detective Dan Myers was either, "I don't know, I don't remember. or I don't think so." Details were not clear in her mind. Even Judge Giss at one point stated that this is a difficult witness to examine.  Bax testified that ever since this event, she's been trying to forget what happened. However, throughout the morning, a series of events emerges.

In the early morning hours of December 2nd, Bax was in the upstairs apartment at the Devonshire residence. The defendant knocked on the door and she let him in. When she turned around to walk back into the apartment, the defendant came at her from behind and placed a gun to the back of her head.  He demanded to know 'Where's Christina."  He left the upstairs unit and came back a second time.  This time she was in one of the apartment bedrooms.  He was let in and Howard (Cartoon) was with him. The defendant was demanding to know where Christina was. Pasasouk pistol whipped Bax, hitting her in the front center of her face and then pointed the gun at her.  He threatened he was going to shoot her.  Allegedly, he then tried to hand the gun to Howard to try to get Howard to shoot her.  Pasasouk stole money that was on a table in the upstairs apartment.

Seconds or minutes after Pasasouk and Howard exited the upstairs apartment,  Bax heard four gunshots.

I'll have a full update on today's testimony late tonight.

To be continued.....

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