By Eric Zassenhaus,
UC Berkeley School of Journalism (Calif., USA)
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bail was set at $1 million today for Ponleou Chea, 25, who is charged with the murder of Boris Albinder, 19, during an argument over a parking space last week.
Chea pleaded not guilty and defense attorney Jeff Adachi who asked the San Francisco Superior Court to set bail at $25,000 because no proof existed that the defendant was responsible for Albinder's death.
Prosecuting Attorney George Butterworth countered that Chea drove the van that allegedly attempted to bump Albinder's friend out of the parking space in which he stood.
"I know who started it," he said.
Chea, a truck driver who emigrated from Cambodia as a refugee from the Khmer Rouge regime, was unable to make bail. Pretrial motions will begin Sept. 29.
Albinder, who graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School last year, died Monday of a knife wound to the neck, which he received during a brawl over the parking space outside a nightclub on Geary and Third avenues in San Francisco's Richmond District.
Witnesses said Albinder arrived at the scene to find a friend being assaulted by four or five individuals over a parking space. The friend, who has not been named, was attempting to reserve the space. Albinder intervened in the brawl and was stabbed.
At court on Wednesday, Chea's three brothers and several friends sat at the back of the courtroom. The defense asked them to stand during the proceedings to demonstrate that Chea has reason to remain in the area.
Chea, who came to the United States, with his mother in the early 1980s, was the subject of a documentary, "Who I Became," which aired four years ago on PBS as part of their "Matters of Race" series.
The film described the difficulty of growing up in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Several scenes show Chea thumbing through images of himself as a young boy in Cambodia, and discussing his parents' emigration.
In 2002, when Chea was 21, his parents returned to Cambodia and left Chea and his three brothers here. He is the father of two children, one four years old, the other nine months old.
Albinder, was the son of Russian immigrants and a high school swimming champion.
Chea pleaded not guilty and defense attorney Jeff Adachi who asked the San Francisco Superior Court to set bail at $25,000 because no proof existed that the defendant was responsible for Albinder's death.
Prosecuting Attorney George Butterworth countered that Chea drove the van that allegedly attempted to bump Albinder's friend out of the parking space in which he stood.
"I know who started it," he said.
Chea, a truck driver who emigrated from Cambodia as a refugee from the Khmer Rouge regime, was unable to make bail. Pretrial motions will begin Sept. 29.
Albinder, who graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School last year, died Monday of a knife wound to the neck, which he received during a brawl over the parking space outside a nightclub on Geary and Third avenues in San Francisco's Richmond District.
Witnesses said Albinder arrived at the scene to find a friend being assaulted by four or five individuals over a parking space. The friend, who has not been named, was attempting to reserve the space. Albinder intervened in the brawl and was stabbed.
At court on Wednesday, Chea's three brothers and several friends sat at the back of the courtroom. The defense asked them to stand during the proceedings to demonstrate that Chea has reason to remain in the area.
Chea, who came to the United States, with his mother in the early 1980s, was the subject of a documentary, "Who I Became," which aired four years ago on PBS as part of their "Matters of Race" series.
The film described the difficulty of growing up in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Several scenes show Chea thumbing through images of himself as a young boy in Cambodia, and discussing his parents' emigration.
In 2002, when Chea was 21, his parents returned to Cambodia and left Chea and his three brothers here. He is the father of two children, one four years old, the other nine months old.
Albinder, was the son of Russian immigrants and a high school swimming champion.
No comments:
Post a Comment