Posted on 05/15/2004 9:25:54 AM PDT by XXXXX88XXXXX
It was a bit like the once-popular "To Tell the Truth" television show:
Will the real road rage defendant with the lacerated nose please stand up!
The TV tableau played out at a San Diego Superior Court hearing this week for two Escondido men accused of attempting to murder a motorist after a freeway encounter.
One, Saky Sengsakda, 20, was in custody and sat at the defendant's table wearing a blue County Jail jumpsuit. The other, Vatthana Sanmur, 21, was out of custody having posted bail and sat wearing street clothes in the back of the courtroom.
A bandage was on Sanmur's nose. Police testified during the hearing that Sanmur suffered a serious cut to his nose the night of the March 23 incident.
Elsewhere in the courtroom gallery sat two other young Asian-American men. They wore similar bandages on their noses.
The 19-year-old motorist who was attacked was asked to identify the man who stabbed him. He looked around the courtroom. "I think it's the man sitting in the corner," he said, identifying Sanmur.
"I had to try it," Sanmur's lawyer, Frank Puglia, later said outside of court. Puglia said the identity of the attackers might have been a key issue in the case.
Sengsakda and Sanmur were later ordered to stand trial on attempted murder, assault and robbery charges stemming from the incident that began shortly after midnight as the motorist drove onto Interstate 5 from Pacific Beach.
The motorist testified that as he was getting onto the freeway ramp he was nearly sideswiped by a car driven by Sengsakda. He said he kept driving south and then saw the white car that almost hit him in another lane.
"We exchanged hand gestures," the motorist said, later explaining that he and the defendants "flipped each other the bird."
The motorist said the defendants closely followed him as he drove to state Route 94 and went east to Kelton Road, where he exited and drove toward his house in Oak Park.
When he got about two blocks from home, the victim testified, he pulled over to the side of the road and rolled down his car window. Immediately, he said, Sengsakda and Sanmur got out of their car and walked up to him and someone said, "You got a problem with my homie?"
Police testified that Sanmur and Sengsakda are documented gang members.
The victim said he replied, "No, you guys almost crashed into me."
He said the two men started beating him up while he was still in the car and that he was stabbed once in his midsection but didn't realize it until later. The wound caused liver damage that required surgery and a weeklong hospital stay.
During the attack Sanmur somehow cut his nose and bled profusely all over the car, police said.
The assailants eventually stopped attacking, stole the motorist's wallet, then drove away. The motorist wrote down the license plate number of their car and arrests were made a short time later.
DNA evidence will play a role in the case, said Deputy District Attorney Dennis Panish, because Sanmur's blood has been identified as being in both cars.
If convicted on all counts, Sanmur faces a maximum of 23 years in prison while Sengsakda could face 19 years. They are scheduled to go to trial July 2.
It's a jungle out there.
There are areas in this country, which are inhabited by ignorant savages, every bit as dangerous and brutal as you'll find anywhere in the world!
Diversity, ah yes, we need more of the diverse "homy" culture in the US.
Sick, sick, I am starting to wish I could just get out of the cess pool, but alas, where can one go that is not even worse.
Now it has a huge illegal alien population and crime that only used to occur in Watts.
I wonder who is to blame for violators of federal law living in plain site without fear of arrest? I wonder.........[I'll give you a hint...it is BOTH parties including our President]
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