A man testified Wednesday that he saw blood on a friend — who later died of a stab wound — just after a confrontation in Hollywood over whether they should have paid anything for taking photos of two homeless men, including one holding a sign that featured a profanity.
Robert Harden told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that Dustin James Kinnear confronted Christine Calderon and demanded a dollar after the two took photos of two other transients at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Kinnear, 27, is on trial on a murder charge stemming from Calderon’s June 18, 2013, death.
Harden said he “shoved him as hard as I could” after seeing Calderon move back very quickly from Kinnear as though she had been pushed or hit, and that he was “scared” as he tried to retreat as the other two men — who he said had initially demanded money — came toward him.
He said he briefly lost sight of Calderon, then saw her rolling in the street with Kinnear on top of her and came to her aid by pushing Kinnear off of his friend, a work colleague with whom he had been drinking alcohol as they spent the afternoon together.
He told jurors he did not see anyone else physically confront his friend.
Harden testified that he and Calderon were “panicking” after the confrontation when she ran her hands down her clothes and realized that there was blood. He said the two made their way to an elevator, where he saw “the size of her wound” and realized “it was really bad.”
He said he was first able to identify Kinnear in court last October at a hearing at which the defendant was eventually ordered to stand trial, but acknowledged he had not previously identified Kinnear when police showed him photographs.
Jason Joel Wolstone — who was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading no contest to an assault charge — denied demanding money from Calderon and her friend after they took photographs, saying that Kinnear went “nose to nose” with Calderon outside the Hollywood & Highland Center.
Wolstone, 34, acknowledged his own run-in with Calderon, saying he had her in “kind of a headlock” for a few seconds after being tackled from behind. But he said he released her after the other transient, Brian Widdows, told him that it was “a girl” and to let her go.
He said he saw a bit of blood on himself afterward and went to a nearby McDonald’s to wash it off and to make sure that he had not been injured. He said Kinnear — the man he knew as “Red” — told him that he had “stuck somebody.”
Wolstone said he and Widdows returned to the corner with Widdows’ sign because “we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“As far as I knew, it was just a little fight,” he said.
Widdows — who was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading no contest to being an accessory after the fact — also denied being involved in a confrontation with Calderon and Harden over money. He said Kinnear came from around the corner of a building and demanded a dollar.
Widdows, 35, testified that he grabbed a knife off the ground that he said had fallen from the woman’s pocket, and that he heard Kinnear say after the confrontation that he “stuck” someone, saying he believed that meant Kinnear had stabbed someone.
Widdows and Wolstone — who acknowledged drinking alcohol that day — each denied being involved in the stabbing.
In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan told jurors that he believed they would have heard enough evidence to convict Kinnear of murdering Calderon.
Kinnear’s attorney, Lowynn Young, said she would ask jurors to acquit her client of first-degree murder. She said there was no evidence that Kinnear had any blood on him or changed his clothing, and said the case rests on the credibility of the witnesses.
— City News Service