Posted on 10/14/2005 12:58:01 PM PDT by SmithL
HAYWARD - When Laura Medina allegedly chased after a car with her boyfriend and another woman in it, rammed it and caused it to crash, killing the woman, it was more a cat-and-mouse game than an attack based in a jealous rage, two women testified Thursday.
On the first day of a preliminary hearing for the Oakland woman on one charge of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, the court heard different versions of what happened June 22, 2004.
On that day, police say, Medina spotted her boyfriend, Hector Rodriguez , in a car with Michelle Dickerson in Oakland and chased the car onto the freeway to Castro Valley, ramming and bumping it along the way at speeds up to 120 mph. Dickerson died when the car crashed into some parked vehicles on a Castro Valley street.
The day Dickerson died, Rodriguez testified Thursday, Medina struck their car hard several times as they sped through early evening traffic along Interstate 580, including going along the shoulder.
The hearing will continue Oct. 28. Judge Robert Kurtz will decide at the end if there is enough evidence for a trial. Medina, 22, faces 15 years to life if convicted, said deputy district attorney Amilcar Ford.
The day of the crash, authorities say, Medina was driving her 1991 Buick in Oakland with her younger sister and two friends when she spotted Rodriguez with Dickerson, 18, of Manteca. They were passengers in a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Juan Miguel Pedroza of Oakland. Medina and her three passengers took off after Pedroza's car, authorities say.
The Buick rammed the Chevrolet several times before the Chevrolet crashed on Lessley Avenue in Castro Valley, killing Dickerson, police said.
Medina's friend Beatrice Zamora of Oakland was the first passenger to testify, saying she didn't know why they were chasing the other car. At some point, she said, she realized Pedroza -- the father of the fetus carried by her fellow passenger, Necia Marte -- was driving the Cavalier because she saw his face in the rear-view mirror. A 17-year-old girl was also in the car.
What happened on the freeway was like a cat-and-mouse game, Zamora said.
"They would speed up; then when we got closer they would hit the brakes," said Zamora, who said she didn't remember the two cars touching before the crash. She also said Pedroza was trying to push Medina into the center divider.
But while soft-spoken and reluctant to answer many questions, Zamora had strong words when defense attorney Joseph O'Sullivan asked if Marte, three months pregnant at the time, had encouraged Medina. On the stand, Zamora said Marte had another boyfriend at the time. "She didn't care about him," she said.
In an interview last year with the Times, Medina said the women were chasing after the Chevrolet because Marte was upset to see Pedroza with another woman.
Marte of San Leandro at first testified she didn't remember anyone mentioning Rodriguez being in the car but figured he was when Medina made a U-turn in Oakland to go after the car. She later said Medina did mention Rodriguez.
Marte said Medina "tapped" the other car a couple times before getting onto I-580 but not on the freeway. Like Zamora, she told the court she didn't remember if it was a speed bump or Medina's car that caused the fatal crash.
Rodriguez, 25, told the court Medina hit the Chevrolet at least eight times before getting on the freeway and three to five times once on the freeway. He said he didn't remember what happened on Castro Valley streets.
After Medina spotted him in Oakland, he said, "I remember getting hit before we even drove off."
O'Sullivan confronted Rodriguez, who testified he had broken up with Medina earlier the day of the crash, about inconsistencies in what he told police and what he said on the stand. He asked why he lied to investigators after the crash about not knowing Pedroza. And asked why he originally gave Dickerson a fake name.
"Did you know what just happened to me?" Rodriguez said. "I almost died."
Rodriguez is scheduled to continue testimony when the hearing resumes.
I'm thinking that alcohol was involved.
Now that's a convoluted story line. Or maybe I'm just not focusing clearly enough. In any case, it's a shame this "game" of jealousy and anger had to end in the death of a young lady.
That jumped out at me. Bet we see more and more of this as the media makes sure they don't offend the pro-abortion crowd?
Peculiar wording.
How many pregnant woman refer to the "fetus" they are carrying, as opposed to the baby?
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