The two men charged with the murder of Meleia Willis-Starbuck '07 faced a judge Tuesday for a preliminary hearing that was finally able to move forward -- more than five months after her death. Willis-Starbuck was gunned down after a night out in Berkeley, Calif. took a tragic turn in July of 2005.
"It's nice that it's finally starting," Willis-Starbuck's friend Stephanie de Souva, who was around the corner when the shooting took place, said in an interview with The Dartmouth Tuesday. She added that it was "worrisome that one of my friends could get jail time," referring to accused shooter Christopher Hollis.
Hollis, 22, of Hayward, Calif., was charged with firing the fatal gunshot that pierced Willis-Starbuck's chest. Berkeley police believe he arrived on the scene in a car driven by Chris Wilson, 21, to intervene in an argument between Willis-Starbuck and a group of seven males who identified themselves as University of California-Berkeley football players. District Attorney John Adams said witnesses heard Willis-Starbuck tell Hollis to "bring the heat" in a conversation she had with him on her cellular telephone. Hollis was a close friend of Willis-Starbuck's, whom she knew from Berkeley High School and referred to as "her brother."
New evidence presented at the trial also revealed that at the time of her death, Willis-Starbuck's blood alcohol level was .15 -- nearly twice California's legal limit of .08.
Hollis and Wilson pled not guilty, but both of their lawyers admit to their presence at the scene.
The argument began when the football players approached Willis-Starbuck and her friends on a street near the UC Berkeley campus to ask where they were going. When the males were told they could not come along, they started insulting the females. One male referred to Willis-Starbuck's friend Dana Johnson, who testified Tuesday, as a "Chewbacca-looking-ass bitch," a comparison to the popular "Star Wars" character. Johnson said that the allusion angered Willis-Starbuck, who told the males in the course of the argument that "they were being disrespectful and their mothers wouldn't approve."
Hollis' lawyer John Burris said Hollis believed his friend to be in danger, and fired his gun as a warning to the males. He did not intend to kill her, according to Burris.
Willis-Starbuck's friends seem to agree. When de Souva was asked whether she thought the shooting was accidental, she responded "for sure." Dana Johnson additionally testified under oath that she wasn't able to identify the shooter, who fired from a half-block away.
Johnson still asserted that when the crime occurred she witnessed a figure shooting in the air. "I just stood there and watched. I was kind of stuck," she said.
Forensic pathologist Thomas Rogers described the damage the bullet did as it entered her chest and struck her heart, causing some present at the trial to weep.
He said the bullet was fired from a distance and at a slightly downward angle, consistent with Johnson's testimony that the shooter raised his arm when he fired the first shot.
Wilson, charged with driving the getaway car and evading the police for several months after the incident, claims he did not know Hollis was armed.
Judge Carolos Ynostroza will take into account testimony presented at today's hearing and two more hearings to take place Jan. 26 and 31 before deciding if the case will officially go to trial.
