Two women accused of stabbing three men in downtown Morgan Hill July 7 told officers that they were defending themselves from the men, who had been harassing them earlier in the evening. However, the alleged victims told police the attacks were unprovoked after a late night of drinking at local bars.
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The three men were treated at San Jose Regional Hospital’s trauma center for multiple stab wounds. Morgan Hill police confirmed that, as of July 16, two of the men had been released from the hospital, but were unsure if the third victim had been released yet. All three are expected to survive the stabbings.
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The suspects, Tori Sanchez, 22, of Freedom, and Alexandria Campos, 23, of Morgan Hill, were arraigned at the Morgan Hill Courthouse July 11 on three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon in relation to the early-morning July 7 incident. The maximum sentence for a single count of assault with a deadly weapon is four years in prison.
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Sanchez and Campos have been in custody at the Santa Clara County Jail since their arrest by Morgan Hill police, and appeared July 11 in jail-issued attire. Campos had a bandage on her right hand, which she suffered during the altercation that preceded her arrest.
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Attorney Micael Estremera of the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office argued for the defendants to be released from custody, with supervision, while awaiting further court proceedings. Estremera noted that neither defendant had ever been arrested or convicted of a crime.
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Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Phong Banh argued Sanchez’ and Campos’ bail should be set “based on the viscous nature of the attacks” of July 7.
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Judge Edward Lee set bail at $175,000 for each woman.
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More than a dozen friends and family members of Sanchez and Campos attended the July 11 hearing. They said the two women were acting in self-defense when they ended up in a fight with three men outside a downtown Morgan Hill bar.
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Police reports of the incident describe a gruesome scene as officers responded to the area of Monterey Road and Third Street about 2:15 a.m. July 7. Officers followed trails of blood through downtown Morgan Hill as they attempted to piece together the details.
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The first victim was contacted by police in front a downtown restaurant, suffering from a stab wound to his groin area from which his intestines were protruding, according to police reports. Another victim, who was stabbed in the abdomen, had blood filling his lungs by the time he was treated at San Jose Regional. Police said the third man suffered a cut to his lower back and left forearm. All three men’s clothing was soaked with blood from their injuries.
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According to police reports, the three men are friends and had been drinking together at various bars in San Jose and Morgan Hill before the incident.
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The police reports contain statements from the suspects, victims and five witnesses. These witnesses told police they had been standing near the intersection of Monterey and Third when they saw the victims running east across Monterey Road with the women following them, according to the police reports.
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The witnesses told police they saw one of the female suspects make “stabbing” or “punching” motions toward one of the men near the intersection of Third Street. None of the witnesses saw a knife during the scuffle.
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The victims and suspects continued walking southbound on Monterey Road in a scattered fashion, according to the witnesses. Officers found one of the victims near Second Street, and another near Spring Avenue.
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The victims and suspects had been at two local bars, The Hill and M&H Tavern, on Monterey Road before the violence started.
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Sanchez told police while at The Hill, the men were “harassing…touching, groping and flirting” with her and Campos. The women—whom Sanchez identified as a romantic couple—told the men to leave them alone, according to her statement. The couple then walked across the street to M&H Tavern; the men followed and “continued to harass them.” Sanchez told police she knew one of the men from high school; this man later told officers Campos stabbed him.
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Sanchez, who works as a private security guard, told police that she often carries a folding knife in her back pocket, but had not intended to use it that evening, according to police reports.
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The victims’ and suspects’ accounts of how the knife became bloody differ significantly, but Sanchez said one of the men grabbed the blade from her pocket and opened it, according to the police reports. She struggled with the man for the knife. The knife fell to the ground, covered with blood, and Sanchez picked it up and walked away with Campos.
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“I was terrified (for) my life,” Sanchez said, according to the police reports.
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One of the victims said while the group was hanging out behind the Tavern, he noticed “the conversation start to deteriorate” for an unspecified reason, leading to a physical confrontation and subsequent stabbing, police reports say. The victims told police they had no problems with the women earlier in the evening.
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When officers found Sanchez and Campos later that evening in the area of Monterey Road and Dunne Avenue, they located the bloody knife in Sanchez’ pocket inside a latex glove, the police report says.
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Sanchez denied stabbing anyone. Both women had blood on their hands and clothing, according to police.
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An officer’s report claimed that Sanchez “purposely left out significant details” about the incident.
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Campos’ statement to police also was short on details. She admitted she stabbed one of the men, but only after he stabbed her in the chest. The police report notes Campos did not show any wounds other than a cut on her hand. Campos said this cut resulted from one of the men stabbing her.
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The suspects’ family members said outside the courtroom July 11 that one of the men stabbed Campos in the hand as she was defending herself. She was treated at a nearby hospital for the cut, according to police reports.
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A police report of the incident described the cut on Campos’ hand as “self-inflicted” in the process of stabbing another person.
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The police reports say one of the victims was so intoxicated that he couldn’t provide a coherent statement after the late-night July 7 fight. Another victim’s statement was described by an officer as “convoluted and confusing.”
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Officers gathered the victims’ and suspects’ bloody clothing, as well as the knife, as evidence. The reports also note that officers gathered security video footage from the bars and other businesses in the area where the July 7 incident occurred.
