Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO -- A 25-year-old Cambodian refugee pleaded not guilty today to murder charges in the stabbing death of a Pacifica man in a dispute over a parking space.
Pounloeu Chea of San Francisco entered the plea and also denied three assault charges stemming from a Sept. 16 fight that led to the death of Boris Albinder, 19. The clash occurred following a parking dispute in front of a Geary Boulevard club just after midnight.
Chea's attorney, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, asked the court for $25,000 bail, but Judge Lillian Sing -- at the request of Assistant District Attorney George Butterworth -- set bail at $1 million.
In arguing the bail issue, Butterworth acknowledged that prosecutors lack evidence to tie Chea to the actual slaying.
"At this point, we didn't know who the stabber was -- that doesn't mean the defendant was not responsible, but I cannot prove he is the individual,'' Butterworth said after court. "I told the judge he was the one who precipitated the incident.''
Adachi said his client was not responsible for the stabbing.
"The bail should be made on the assault charges -- the prosecution conceded that they had no evidence that he was responsible for the stabbing,'' Adachi said.
Police said Albinder's friend had been standing in an open space waiting for Albinder to arrive and park in it when a van pulled up and drove into the space, twice hitting the friend before the fight started.
When Albinder drove up and went to help his friend, he was fatally stabbed in the fight.
Prosecutors contend Chea's anger triggered the parking dispute and that he had been the driver of the van involved in the dispute.
Adachi argued that he should not be held on such high bail when he did not commit the stabbing.
"He was simply allegedly identified as being present at the scene and the driver of the vehicle,'' Adachi said.
Chea's family fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s, and he was featured three years ago in a 20-minute documentary film, "Who I Became," about the life of Asian immigrants in the Tenderloin. The film documented Chea's struggle to escape the street after his mother and father returned to Cambodia.
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
Pounloeu Chea of San Francisco entered the plea and also denied three assault charges stemming from a Sept. 16 fight that led to the death of Boris Albinder, 19. The clash occurred following a parking dispute in front of a Geary Boulevard club just after midnight.
Chea's attorney, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, asked the court for $25,000 bail, but Judge Lillian Sing -- at the request of Assistant District Attorney George Butterworth -- set bail at $1 million.
In arguing the bail issue, Butterworth acknowledged that prosecutors lack evidence to tie Chea to the actual slaying.
"At this point, we didn't know who the stabber was -- that doesn't mean the defendant was not responsible, but I cannot prove he is the individual,'' Butterworth said after court. "I told the judge he was the one who precipitated the incident.''
Adachi said his client was not responsible for the stabbing.
"The bail should be made on the assault charges -- the prosecution conceded that they had no evidence that he was responsible for the stabbing,'' Adachi said.
Police said Albinder's friend had been standing in an open space waiting for Albinder to arrive and park in it when a van pulled up and drove into the space, twice hitting the friend before the fight started.
When Albinder drove up and went to help his friend, he was fatally stabbed in the fight.
Prosecutors contend Chea's anger triggered the parking dispute and that he had been the driver of the van involved in the dispute.
Adachi argued that he should not be held on such high bail when he did not commit the stabbing.
"He was simply allegedly identified as being present at the scene and the driver of the vehicle,'' Adachi said.
Chea's family fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s, and he was featured three years ago in a 20-minute documentary film, "Who I Became," about the life of Asian immigrants in the Tenderloin. The film documented Chea's struggle to escape the street after his mother and father returned to Cambodia.
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
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