Witnesses recall the violent night at a local gas station
Gilroy – Witnesses changed their stories on the stand at the preliminary hearing Friday for Rafael Casas – who was arrested on charges of attempted murder and violating parole in May – from the accounts they first gave police officers months ago.
Near midnight the night of May 7, a 26-year-old man intervened in a domestic dispute between another man and two women at a Gilroy Rotten Robbie gas station. The suspect involved in the domestic dispute then allegedly lunged at the victim, stabbing him multiple times before fleeing the scene.
The 26-year-old victim, who Casas allegedly stabbed four times at the Leavesley Road gas station, was the first to take the stand.
When asked if he saw the man in the courtroom who stabbed him that night, the victim avoided making eye contact, but looked down at his lap while pointing across the room at Casas.
The victim said he was at the gas station just before midnight with a cousin and her friends when he saw an altercation between a man and woman. He said there was a second woman trying to stop the man from hurting the first woman.
“He was pulling her hair, tugging her and dragging her,” the victim said.
While Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott questioned him, the victim said he intervened in the dispute after his cousin asked him to do something.
“This is a tragic example of a good Samaritan trying to stop domestic violence in a public place,” Scott said after the hearing. “It’s a good thing he was able to defend himself or he could have been killed.”
During his testimony, the victim said he walked toward the trio and asked if the girls needed help.
“He ran at me like he was going to hit me,” the victim said. “So I hit him first in the chin or jaw.”
The victim said Casas fell to the ground and when he got up he threatened to kill the him, lunging at him with a knife. Though he didn’t recall details about the knife, he said the blade was about three inches long. The victim lifted his shirt and then unbuttoned it to show four scars from his stab wounds, two on his arms and two on his chest.
Under cross examination by defense attorney Jim Leininger, the victim said he studied karate and had a blue belt in the sport. He admitted to hitting Casas 10 times during the altercation and chasing after him to continue the fight when Casas fled the seen.
“These things are never as clear cut as people want them to be,” Leininger said after the hearing.
After Judge Susan Bernardini dismissed the first witness, four others testified during the afternoon session, including the defendant’s girlfriend who was with him at Rotten Robbie’s the night of the stabbing and an employee who was working at the gas station at the time. Contrary to his original statement to police after the altercation – and that he picked Casas out of a lineup – the gas station employee said Friday he did not recall telling police he had seen Casas fighting with the victim, though he said he had seen Casas at the station when he started work at 11:15pm.
Contrary to her earlier statements, Casas’ girlfriend denied telling police that she and Casas were fighting at the gas station or that she was afraid to testify against him.
Still in question as the preliminary trial continues Oct. 14 is whether Casas has gang ties. The first witness testified that Casas’ initial words to him were “you [expletive deleted] with the wrong person,” though after Scott showed him police records of his interview with police, the witness said he had told police Casas said “you [expletive deleted] with the wrong Norteño.”
Melissa Flores is an intern, who recently graduated from the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. Reach her at 842-6400, ext. 207 or mf*****@************ch.com.
