SANTA
ANA, Calif. (AP) — Two women who kicked to death another woman outside a
bar were sentenced Friday to six years in prison by a judge who
chastised them for not walking away and denounced bystanders who shot
cell phone video rather than break up the melee.
Candace Brito,
27, and Vanesa Zavala, 26, cried softly as the judge also ordered them
to pay $5,000 each in fines and a combined $3,500 in funeral costs to
the family of 23-year-old Annie Kim Pham, an aspiring writer and
newlywed who was taken off life support and died two days after the
fight earlier this year.
Family
members of the two defendants and Pham fought back tears as Orange
County Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Goethals said the case was a
horrible tragedy for all involved. He decried bystanders who shot cell
phone video of the January fight but did not intervene. The footage was
key evidence at trial.
"Why
didn't you two walk away? You're not gang members. You're not fighters.
You had been essentially law-abiding, nice young women," the judge said,
raising his voice. "And yet ... you were all in the fight up to your
elbows. If any of you had just swallowed your pride and walked away none
of us would be sitting here."
Brito
and Zavala had been charged with second-degree murder, which would have
carried a possible life term, but a jury in July opted for the lesser
conviction of voluntary manslaughter. The two faced a minimum of three
years and a maximum of 11 years in prison.
Katie
Nguyen, Pham's stepsister, recalled holding Pham's hand as she lay in a
coma in the hospital. Pham's family later donated her organs according
to her wishes.
View photos
FILE - Vanesa Zavala enters court in Santa Ana, Calif., in this Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014 file …
"I remember crying so much my eyes were unable to produce any
more tears," Nguyen said. "She needed to grow old, have kids and see me
get married — but that would not happen."
Brito said she prays
each day to Pham, asking for forgiveness, and Zavala — who has a
4-year-old son — said as a parent herself she can't imagine Pham's
father's pain.
"I will live with this for the rest of my life. I
know that you will never forget this, but I hope someday you can
forgive," Brito said shortly before the sentence was read.
According
to trial testimony, the fight began as Pham and her friends waited in
line to get into a hotspot in downtown Santa Ana called The Crobsy.
Brito, Zavala and their friends were leaving the bar and the two groups
bumped into one another.
According
to testimony, Pham and Emilia Calderon, a friend of Brito and Zavala's,
exchanged words and then Pham swore and threw the first punch, starting
a fight that quickly turned into a chaotic melee involving dozens of
people. As Pham and Calderon wrestled on the sidewalk, prosecutors said
Brito and Zavala kicked her in the head.
View photos
Katie Nguyen, shows off the pin she made of her stepsister Annie Kim Pham, the woman that was killed …
Calderon was not charged in the case.
Zavala's
attorney, Kenneth Reed, argued that his client didn't kick Pham and
that punches from other people might have killed her.
Brito's attorney, Michael Molfetta, argued his client reacted in self-defense because she thought her friend was in danger.
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