"Fuck 18th street? Are you serious?"

Defense called witnesses in the Brandon Watson jury trial today starting with  EPD Detective Jonathan Eckert who responded to the Pearl in 2016. Audio recordings of EPD's interview with Brian Edwards and  Antony Besselieu-Hill, the two alleged victims for that incident were played for the jury.

Then Watson took the stand. He talked about his youth and said he probably got into 10-20 fights. When he was 17, he was jumped by several people. "It was the worst fight in my whole life. It was so bad, I had to get dragged home by my friends. I did not want to go to the hospital."

Watson said he started some of the fights with other males and others were not initiated by him. These fights as a youth, "people have words with one another or in a party scenario."

From age 20 to 24, prior to the 2016 incident, Watson said he got into "one or two fights in Arcata."

In 2016, Watson did not associate with gangs and did not consider himself an active member of a gang. "I wasn't hanging out with them, actively gangbanging."

Watson said he would "people in passing" who were gang members. Watson said his knowledge of gangs in Humboldt was extensive. He is no longer in Arizona so he doesn't know what the gangs  there are like these days.

At the Pearl, Watson was drinking beer. He had done "two three grams" of a drug. Watson went outside to smoke a joint.

There were intoxicated individuals having a conversation. Two of them were five feet away, very loud and bragging about gangs they were affiliated with; these two individuals testified at this trial.  He was referring to Edwards and Besselieu-Hill. 

Watson laughed. Edwards and Besselieu-Hill glanced at him.

"It was entertaining to hear them talk about 18th Street because they were clearly inaccurate about the details," said Watson. He said  questioned them because of the legitimacy of what they were saying about this particular gang. 

Watson said he mumbled, "Fuck 18th Street. Are you serious?"

Edwards said, "They are the homies."

At first Watson said, it was a friendly conversation but when he told them they were inaccurate; things took a turn for the worse.

Watson told Edwards and Besselieu-Hill that he was affilated with a gang.

Besselieu-Hill said, "no way that was possible because I am a white guy."

"I am Native American and Sicilian and I don't identify as a white guy. That irritated me."

Watson said Edwards and Besselieu-Hill were "posturing. It escalated because Edwards told me to go. He gestured with his hand and said, 'Get the fuck outta here. I was irritated because I had just as much of a right to be there."

Watson said that he felt Edwards were being "racial and harassing him." A video someone took of the fight was shown to the jury. Watson does not know who took the video. He saw it before his testimony. It contradicts Besselieu-Hill claiming he tried to break the fight up. The video was not visible on livestream.

Besselieu-Hill grabbed Watson's beanie and pulled it down over his face. Besselieu-Hill was kicking and punching Watson while Edwards was yanking him by his hair. Watson was kicked with a boot and his eye was swollen.

Watson said he was being suffocated so he stabbed Edwards. Watson does not know how Besselieu-Hill got stabbed; he did not stab Besselieu-Hill.

In the afternoon, Edwin Smith testified via Zoom. He is a forensic toxicologist. Smith testified about cocaine and ketamine. In her opening statement, Watson's attorney, Ms. Andrea Sullivan, said both were found in Peter "Bo" Triantos' blood.

Smith testified about cocaine and meth. He said not all stimulants cause a person to become aggressive. Low doses of stimulants improve a person's ability to perform tasks.

There was a stipulation regarding the blood alcohol level of Edwards and Besselieu-Hill.

After Smith testified, Watson took the stand, again.

Previous post:

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/three-day-time-estimate-for-murder.html?m=1#more