Cousin of stabbing victim doesn’t recall much of the incident
involving suspect Rafael Casas
San Martin – Memories can be fuzzy, especially during trial.
The cousin of the man allegedly stabbed by a suspected Norteño gang member during an altercation at Rotten Robbie gas station last May couldn’t recall much of the incident a year later.
“I didn’t remember much that night. I had a lot going on in my life,” said Kristalyn Rodriguez. “I pretty much blacked it out. I just wanted to make sure my cousin was OK.”
She testified wearing handcuffs and a white Department of Corrections jersey during the third day of the attempted murder trial of Rafael Casas Thursday afternoon at Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse. She was in custody for violating a restraining order in an unrelated case.
Casas waived his right to a jury trial last week, leaving the decision to Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Shapero.
“I don’t even know if that was him,” she told defense attorney James Leininger, nodding in Casas’ direction.
Casas, 25, was arrested last May for stabbing 26-year-old John Sablan several times in the upper torso and arms during a fight at shortly before midnight on May 7, 2005.
She did not recall telling Anti-Crime Team Sgt. Greg Flippo the night of the incident that she saw a Hispanic male hitting a woman who was screaming at the gas station. She could not recall telling him that the man made comments making it clear he was a Norteño gang member. And she did not remember telling Flippo that she heard the suspect yell at Sablan before attacking him.
“I don’t remember. I made that statement a year ago,” Rodriguez flippantly told Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott. “My memory is not going to get any better.”
She did recall pulling into the gas station and hearing women screaming.
“I told my cousin to check it out and make sure the girls were OK,” Rodriguez said.
After Sablan ran up to the group the men became involved in a fight and when the two separated Sablan was bleeding from wounds.
“I was mad because I saw my cousin bleeding,” she said. “I saw blood all over him. There was blood all over my car.”
Flippo testified next and said his recollections the night of the incident were different from hers.
“She said that she saw the subject attack one of the females and that she asked her cousin to try and stop the incident,” he said. “She said that the subject then attacked her cousin. She was not able to give exact quotes, but she made statements about the subject making references to being a Norteño.”
When asked to account for the differences in their testimonies, Flippo responded saying they both had different memories of the evening.
Differences in witness testimonies has been common throughout the trial.
Casas’ ex-girlfriend testified during the second day of trial Wednesday that he frequently beat her and was attacking her at a Gilroy gas station when Sablan intervened. That was after she testified Casas didn’t put his hands on her and wasn’t fighting with her at the gas station.
Her second version was similar to the one painted by Sablan, 27, who testified the first day of trial May 10.
Sablan said he intervened because he saw two women yelling at a man grabbing the hair of one of the females and wanted to see if they were OK. He asked if they needed help when Casas told him, “You f—— with the wrong Norteño,” and ran towards him, Sablan said.
He admitted he struck Casas first and a fight ensued for about three minutes and that he suffered several stab wounds during the fray.
Rodriguez could not remember who attacked first and did not recall seeing the suspect with a knife. And Casas’ ex-girlfriend Blanca Velasquez, testified Wednesday that she never saw Casas stab Sablan but that he told her the day after the stabbing where he hid the knife used during the attack.
One year after Casas’ arrest she is still frightened, she said. She has received threatening phone calls and no longer goes out.
Velasquez is expected to be re-called by the defense to testify today, as it begins its case.
