A man accused of fatally beating a 70-year-old nurse in an unprovoked attack at a downtown Los Angeles bus stop was sentenced on Monday to stand trial for murder and assault.
Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta denied Deputy Public Defender Julianne Prescop’s request to dismiss the murder charge against Kerry Bell, now 49.
and charged with the January 13, 2022 attack that claimed the life of Sandra Shells.
The judge said he viewed what happened to Shells as a blow to the head, not a slap in the face, as the defense attorney characterized it.
“She had no idea what was going to happen,” Ohta said.
The nurse, who was waiting for a bus at Vignes Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue near Union Station at 5:15 a.m. to go to work at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
This is where the victim was rammed, fell and hit his head on the concrete.
Shells died on January 16, 2022 at the hospital, where she had worked for 38 years.
Antonio Campos testified that he did not see the woman bothering anyone and ran to help her, performing CPR when she fell to the ground.
When Assistant District Attorney Brian Kang asked if it appeared that Shell’s life was in danger, the first witness called by the prosecution replied, “Yes! Because I saw her fall and hit her head. He was motionless on the ground, bleeding from the head.
Campos identified the defendant in court and said he did not hear Bell or Shells say nothing. He said he saw the shooter carrying what looked like bags over his shoes and heard someone who looked scared tell the man to stop.
Los Angeles Police Department officer Joseph Murphy said officers were able to retrieve a photo showing the alleged suspect and managed to track Bell to a platform at Union Station, where they tracked him down. stopped at 6:45 a.m.
Dr. John Gruen, a neurosurgeon at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, said he frequently shuttled from Union Station to the hospital with the nurse, saying he operated on Shells the same day for the purpose to save his life. . But he said he did not expect him to regain consciousness given the severity of his injury, which he said was not visible from the outside.
Shell was declared brain dead and removed from life support.
Bell was initially charged with murder, with the prosecution later filing a second charge of forcible assault likely causing grievous bodily harm.
Bell is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom to be arraigned on April 10. Bell has remained behind bars on $2 million bail since his arrest.