By Khalida Sarwari
A preliminary hearing began today for two men charged with murdering 27-year-old Philip Lacy near the parking garage of Palo Alto City Hall in 2008.
Otto Emil Koloto, 23, and Donald Robert Lee, 22, appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto today for the hearing, which will allow a judge to determine if there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Prosecutors allege that Koloto shot Lacy, a South San Francisco resident, during the course of a robbery and that Lee drove the car in which Koloto fled afterward.
District attorney’s office spokesman Nick Muyo said both men are charged with one count of homicide and that Koloto also faces an enhancement for use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The first witness called to the stand, Farmarz Maleki, 28, testified that he had been with Lacy the evening of July 12, 2008, and early on the morning of July 13, when the shooting occurred.
Maleki, a childhood friend of Lacy’s, said the two attended basketball camp together at age 10, and that their friendship had continued through high school and beyond.
On the night Lacy was shot, Maleki, Lacy and four other men had briefly gone to the bar Glow in San Mateo, then headed to the Blue Chalk Cafe, a bar on Ramona Avenue in Palo Alto where they stayed until about 1:30 a.m., Maleki said.
At the end of the evening, Maleki said, the men left the bar separately. Maleki retrieved his car and drove out of a parking garage adjacent to City Hall and onto Bryant Street, where he parked along a curb to wait for Lacy and their other friends.
The men all eventually got into the car and were preparing to leave when a man with black, bushy hair and brown eyes wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black beanie approached the car and asked the occupants for a cigarette.
In court today, Maleki identified the man with the bushy hair as Koloto.
Maleki said he passed a cigarette to Lacy, who gave it to the man. The man then took a gun out of his front pocket, cocked it and pointed it at Lacy.
He ordered Lacy, who was wearing a gold chain necklace with a diamond-encrusted cross, to “Give me your chain, bitch,” Maleki said.
Maleki said Lacy turned to him and shook his head briefly before taking off the gold chain and handing it to the gunman.
However, just after handing over his necklace, Maleki said, Lacy flew out of his seat “like Superman” and attacked the gunman “full force,” ramming his head into the gunman’s chest and wrapping his arms around him.
The two men tussled briefly and then the suspect raised the gun, pointed it at Lacy’s head and fired, Maleki said.
“I just heard a bang,” Maleki said.
Lacy’s eyes closed and he slumped to the ground, Maleki said.
Maleki said the gunman looked bewildered after the shooting, glancing toward Lacy’s friends then running off with Lacy’s necklace.
Maleki said he, too, was initially in a state of shock. He said he exited his car and lay down on the road outside of his car before rising and alerting a nearby police officer about what had happened to his friend.
Kenneth Walker, of Oakland, testified that he had sat next to Lacy in the car before the shooting had occurred. His testimony of the sequence of events that had transpired that night mirrored that of Maleki’s and when he was asked to identify the suspect, he gave a similar description and pointed to Koloto.
The sole discrepancy in their testimonies was regarding the direction in which the gunman took off after the shooting. Maleki stated that the suspect ran in the same direction that he’d appeared from, while Walker alleged that the suspect ran in the opposite direction.
Walker said that following the shooting, he tried talking to Lacy until police arrived. He said Lacy was moaning but was otherwise unresponsive.
Shortly thereafter, Walker said that he found a driver’s license about 10 to 15 feet in front of the car and immediately handed it to an officer standing there. He said the driver’s license was Koloto’s.
Koloto’s mother, Mua Huhana, a resident of East Palo Alto, tearfully recounted the circumstances prior to and following that night. Huhana described the friendship between Koloto and Lee as a “very close” one and said the two often spent a lot of time together. Huhana said that for a while Lee had even lived with her family until early 2008.
Huhana did not discuss her own relationship with her son, except to say that she usually had a difficult time getting a hold of him when he would go out and that she relied instead on calling Lee, her brother or Koloto’s other friends to find his whereabouts.
On July 12, Huhana testified that Koloto had been home until about 10:30 p.m. when Lee came to the house and the two left together. Huhana said Koloto told her he was going to San Jose.
Koloto did not return home that night, Huhana said.
The next morning, Huhana said, police raided her house and she called her brother to ask if he knew where Koloto was.
She said she did not speak to Koloto until three months later. A Palo Alto police sergeant notified her in September that Koloto was in custody.
The final witness called to the stand was Palo Alto police Sgt. Scott Wong, whose testimony was based upon an interview he had conducted with Koloto’s cousin, Faasolo Supileo.
Wong said Supileo had relayed to him that Koloto had briefly dropped by his house around midnight on July 12 and had told him he was heading to Blue Chalk Cafe with Lee, whom Supileo said he did not see that night.
The next morning, Supileo said both men were sleeping in the living room of his house. Wong said Supileo told him he went out for a short while and upon returning, saw Koloto cutting his own hair in the backyard.
Supileo said he stopped to help him and at that point, Koloto told Supileo that he had shot somebody, according to Wong. Supileo allegedly told Wong he did not believe Koloto at first, but then Koloto told him details about the night and said he had gotten rid of the gun.
Supileo advised Koloto to tell his mother, Wong said.
Following that discussion, Koloto went to take a shower and Supileo encountered Lee, Wong said. Supileo said Lee told him that he had been in the car with Koloto the previous night and that he had been instructed by Koloto to stop the car at one point, according to Wong.
Lee told Supileo that Koloto then left the car but that he did not know what he was going to do until Koloto returned and told him what had happened, Wong said.
Supileo told Wong he did not talk to Koloto again until the next day. Koloto told Supileo over the telephone that he was okay but expressed concern about the phone lines being tapped, according to Wong.
Supileo told Koloto his family was worried about not hearing from him and encouraged him to turn himself in, Wong said.
The preliminary hearing is expected to continue Tuesday.