Bryan Stow Suspects ID'ed from the Witness Stand

A woman who was in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day last year when a San Francisco Giants fan was attacked identified his alleged assailant in court Thursday, testifying that she saw the man kick the victim in the head after he fell unconscious to the ground.

Mary Dolores Donley testified that she chose Louie Sanchez during a July
2011 lineup as the man she had seen kicking and trying to swing at Bryan Stow
after he had already fallen to the ground in Lot 2 after the Dodgers-Giants
game on March 31, 2011.

The testimony came during the fifth day of a hearing to determine if
there is enough evidence to require Sanchez, 30, and Marvin Norwood, 31, to
stand trial in connection with the attack on Stow.

Donley -- who approached the scene with her husband after hearing a man
yelling a profanity -- said she heard Stow ``hit the ground and it was a sound
I never heard before,'' describing it as a ``horrible noise.''

She said she saw Stow's assailant kick him once in the head and that the
man also tried to take a swing at a seemingly unconscious Stow as the father
of two was on the ground face-up with blood coming from his ears.

When asked if she saw the man in court that she identified in the photo
line-up, she indicated it was Sanchez.

"The one that had kicked Bryan Stow in the head?'' Deputy District
Attorney Beth Silverman asked.

"Yes,'' she responded.

Under cross-examination, the prosecution witness acknowledged that she
did not see the punch that resulted in the off-duty paramedic being knocked to
the ground.

Donley also identified Norwood in court as being the man she had seen
about 15 to 20 feet away and who eventually approached Sanchez in an effort to try to get him to leave the scene after the attack. She acknowledged she had
been unable to identify the second man -- whom she described as a taller man
with a light complexion -- during a line-up.

Donley is the first prosecution witness to testify that she saw Sanchez
and Norwood at the scene. Others have said they believed -- but could not
conclusively state -- that they saw the two.

Donley testified that she had her daughter call 911, while her husband
and her cousin tried to convince Sanchez to back away from Stow.

When asked if she had told detectives in May 2011 that another man who
was initially arrested in connection with the case strongly resembled Stow's
assailant, she said of Giovanni Ramirez, ``It looks like him, but it wasn't the
person ... I did not identify him.''

Ramirez was arrested but never charged.

Sanchez and Norwood were arrested in July 2011 in connection with Stow's
beating and have remained jailed since then.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli heard a 12-
minute audiotape of a barely audible jailhouse conversation between Sanchez and Norwood in July 2011, over the defense's objection. The judge said he would rule later today on whether a transcript of the conversation would be publicly released.

In court papers filed last year, prosecutors wrote that, ``While in a
jail cell awaiting a lineup, Sanchez told his co-defendant Norwood not to say
anything to anyone.''

Lomeli is expected to rule either today or Friday on whether Sanchez and
Norwood, both of Rialto, will proceed to trial.

The two men are charged with one felony count each of mayhem, assault by
means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily
injury, along with the allegation that the two inflicted great bodily injury on
Stow.

Sanchez also is charged with a misdemeanor count of battery involving a
run-in with a female Giants fan and a misdemeanor battery count for allegedly
swinging his fist at a young man in another group of Giants fans in the parking
lot after the game.

Stow suffered a skull fracture that resulted in the loss of a portion of
his skull as well as damage to his brain, according to a stipulation signed
by attorneys from both sides and read in court.

Stow is ``unable to walk, has loss of motor skills in his arms and
hands, is unable to carry on a normal conversation, unable to control his
bodily functions and unable to care for himself due to diffuse, severe,
traumatic brain injury,'' according to the document. ``Bryan Stow will require
skilled long-term care and daily assistance for the remainder of his life.''

Prosecutors contended in court papers filed last summer that Sanchez
initially shoved Stow, followed the Bay Area paramedic after he and his friends
walked away and that Sanchez punched him in the side of the head and that both he and Norwood kicked Stow after he was knocked unconscious.

Along with the charges in state court, Sanchez and Norwood are charged
in federal court with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Weapons recovered from the garage attic crawl space at Norwood's home
included a Bushmaster assault rifle, with scope and magazine attached; a Marlin
semi-automatic rifle; a Mossberg semi-automatic shotgun loaded with five rounds of 12-gauge ammunition and other handguns, according to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Norwood said in an interview with police that the weapons belonged to
Sanchez but that he kept them at his home because ``Sanchez does not have a
place to store the guns,'' according to the affidavit, which was filed in
support of the federal criminal complaint.