Hearing Sheds More Light On Beach Cove Shooting

Updated 10 p.m. Wednesday for clarifications

Foster City residents involved in the July Beach Cove Apartments shooting may have been acting drunk and belligerent before their confrontation with the alleged shooter, according to a witness.

The evidence came from a witness called by defense attorney William Locke in Monday's preliminary hearing for Jesse Williams, 39, who faces two counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault with a firearm from the July 9 incid ent in which two men, Anthony Cook and Steven Dimond, sustained gunshot wounds after a dispute over loud noise.

Cook, Dimond and three other women caused noisy commotion when one of their canoes capsized while attempting a late-night boat trip in the lagoon.

During the hearing, former Beach Cove Apartments resident Albert Brandenstein, who went out of his apartment in response to the noise, testified that he had waited more than a half hour in his apartment on the evening of the incident, hoping the group would quiet down so his family could sleep.  Brandenstein said his requests for them to be quiet were met with curse words and racial epithets and that he felt physically threatened.

"I put my guard up because I thought I was going to get into a physical altercation," Brandenstein said as he described the way one of the group's women, Karen Castaneda, quickly followed him back to his apartment doorsteps when he had decided to call the police.  One of Wilson's charges is for allegedly assaulting Castaneda during the incident. 

The judge's decision to allow Brandenstein's testimony during the hearing came after a lengthy discussion between Wilson's defense attorney and San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Brian Raft.  Locke said he thought the testimony helped establish that Wilson acted in self-defense during the incident.

"I think (Brandenstein's) testimony was especially important because he is a resident who has nothing to gain one way or the other," said Locke.  "I think it's really important to establish that this group was drunk, they were belligerent and that they were acting hostile, and that that was what Jesse Wilson responded to."    

According to Cook and Dimond's testimonies, the confrontation with Wilson began shortly after the altercation with Brandenstein.  Cook said he had consumed three or four beers before going to the lagoon.  Both men testified to having used marijuana sometime during the day before the incident, but said the marijuana use was for medical reasons.

The men said Wilson came out of his apartment with his arms crossed and then pointed a firearm at the men after a short exchange of words.  Wilson moved the aim of the gun barrel back and forth between Cook and Dimond, according to their testimonies.

Both Dimond and his mother, Patti Dimond, cried as he recalled for the court the events in the minutes leading up to his gunshot wound as he tried to take the gun from Wilson.

"Everything was in slow motion," Dimond said tearfully.  "(Wilson) tried to pull me down and I didn't want that to happen so I reached for the gun."

Dimond was allegedly shot in the armpit area of the upper torso after reaching for the gun.  He testified that he underwent two surgeries and spent 13 days in the hospital from a collapsed lung caused by the injury. 

Cook and Wilson engaged in a struggle over the gun after Dimond was shot.  Cook said he was terrified and concerned for his wife's safety, who had been in the boat with him that evening.

"I felt if I let go of that gun I was going to have a hole in my head or a hole in my chest," Cook said.

Tensions were high in the courtroom during the hearing.  During Bradenstein's testimony, Dimond's older brother, Shaun Dimond, was forced to leave the courtroom for talking in a way that the bailiff found offensive.  Cook also accused Wilson of mouthing words to him while he sat on the witness stand during a brief period when the judge was out of the courtroom.

 "I don't know what went on, but I know my client pretty well and the last thing that he would ever do in a courtroom is move his lips in a threatening manner to somebody who is accusing him in that fashion," Locke said after the hearing.

The preliminary hearing is expected to wrap up on Tuesday morning.  Directly after the hearing, a judge will decide whether or not to lower Wilson's $1,000,000 bail.