By Khalida Sarwari
Three men charged with murdering a 19-year-old Stockton woman at a light rail station in San Jose last year pleaded not guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court today, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said.
San Jose residents Gregory Lopez, 20, Eddie Rivera, 23, and David Pilipina, 20, are suspected of fatally stabbing Kristina Harris-Perkins at the Alum Rock Light Rail station on Aug. 15, 2009.
Harris-Perkins’ traveling companions, a 19-year-old Oakland man and a 16-year-old girl, were also stabbed and underwent surgery at San Jose Regional Medical Center.
The defendants face life in prison if convicted as charged, district attorney spokeswoman Amy Cornell said.
In an Aug. 19, 2009, telephone interview, Harris-Perkins’ father, Andre Perkins, said his daughter had never been involved in a fight in her life.
He said she was preparing to attend a four-year college and had found a job as an assistant manager for transportation at SkyWest Airlines in San Francisco with the help of Job Corps, a federal education and job-training youth program that she had joined in October 2008.
The defendants will next appear in court on Nov. 29 for a preliminary hearing.