Claims man accused in attempted murder of ‘Good Samaritan’ beat
her
San Martin – The ex-girlfriend of a man on trial for attempted murder said he frequently beat her and was in the midst of abusing her at a Gilroy gas station when a Good Samaritan intervened and wound up being stabbed.
Blanca Velasquez wavered during her testimony Wednesday at Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse, often looking at Rafael Casas before briefly answering questions about the incident. She said Casas told her the day after the stabbing where he hid the knife used during the attack and instructed her not to say anything about the incident.
“I am (afraid,)” she told defense attorney James Leininger through a court interpreter, after he questioned whether she was still frightened of Casas one year after his arrest. “I don’t go out anymore.”
Casas, 25, is a suspected Norteño gang member arrested last May for stabbing 26-year-old John Sablan multiple times at Rotten Robbie gas station on Leavesley Road shortly before midnight May 7, 2005.
Velasquez is one of two witnesses who testified Wednesday during the second day of the trial. Both witnesses initially denied telling police they were afraid of Casas, refuting much of the information contained in their statements to police.
“That’s how these gangs survive – with witness intimidation,” Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott said outside the courtroom. “They get witnesses too afraid to appear in court and testify against them and get off.”
The man court documents show Casas said he was hanging out with all weekend in San Jose the night of the stabbing testified he dropped Casas off at his Gilroy home after the two stopped for gas.
Francisco Baldivia admitted to Scott he initially lied to police about not knowing Casas, admitting he was afraid for his family’s safety.
“I was scared,” he said. “I didn’t want to get in trouble for something I didn’t do.”
Casas waived his right to a jury trial last week, placing his fate in Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Shapero’s hands.
A handful of family members sat together listening as Velasquez initially testified that she and Casas were not having an argument at the gas station when Sablan approached. She said Casas was not mad at her for going out with a girl friend that night, denied that he put his hands on her at the gas station, and denied telling police he told her not to talk about the stabbing.
But after the morning recess her story changed.
“He pulled me, he grabbed me by the arm and by the hair,” she told Scott, sitting turned away from Casas. “I didn’t see when Rafael stabbed him.”
She testified she has received threatening phone calls in the past six months.
“They said, ‘Bitch. Whore. You are going to pay for it,” she told Scott. “All his friends, they were going to do something to me.”
Casas appeared calm during her testimony and took notes during questioning. He appeared wearing black dress pants and a white dress shirt.
Velasquez told Scott that when Sablan approached her and Casas at the gas station that he was holding her by the hair and yelling at her while she and her friend yelled at him to stop.
According to Sablan’s testimony during the first day of trial last Wednesday, he asked if the women were okay and needed help. He testified Casas told him, “You f—— with the wrong Norteño,” and ran towards him. Sablan, 27, admitted he struck Casas first and a fight ensued and that he suffered several stab wounds in the upper body and arms during the fray.
Scott submitted three previous convictions on Casas’ record for Shapero to note, including two misdemeanors for abuse on a past girlfriend and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon on a different individual.
Gilroy Police Department’s Pedro Espinoza, an investigator on the Anti-Crime Team, gave the final testimony of the day. He testified that a tape recorded conversation between Casas and Velasquez about two weeks after his arrest indicated that he dumped something in the back seat of the police vehicle during transport to the police station.
Espinoza searched the truck and discovered four bags of methamphetamine underneath the front seat, he said. However, he told Leininger he did not know if Casas was responsible for leaving it there.
“That’s the least of (Casas’) worries while having attempted murder charges,” Scott said in response to questions outside the courtroom.
Phone calls to Leininger’s office were not returned as of press time.
The trial continues this afternoon.
