Third instance of vandalism reported News Monday March 2, 2015
Murder trial remarks finish
Riverside sisters to play Becker Ampitheater 3
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
4
A&E
Volume 97 Issue 18
Blaze destroys Dillon’s
Jury to deliberate in trial for murder of former student SPENCER CUSTODIO Daily Titan Closing arguments ended Friday after two days of statements from prosecution and defense attorneys in the trial of Samuel Lopez, who is accused of murdering former CSUF student Cathy Torrez in 1994. Torrez’s body was found in a car trunk outside a Placentia hospital in February 1994 and Samuel Lopez has been the prime suspect since then. The two were high school sweethearts. Defense attorney Lewis Rosenblum told the jury throughout his closing argument that the prosecution has no physical evidence that pins Samuel Lopez to the murder of Torrez. “There’s virtually no evidence against my client,” Rosenblum told the jury. “I’m going to reshape the way you look at this case.” He aruged police found no bloody clothing, no stolen items, no murder weapon or anything else to pin Samuel to the murder. The defense maintained that Xavier Lopez, Samuel’s cousin, is the murderer. Xavier’s fingerprint and DNA were found on Torrez, Rosenblum said. Xavier Lopez is being tried separately. Rosenblum argued that the prosecution had only one story—that Samuel’s reluctance in the search for Torrez and his demeanor in the interrogation room pointed to the fact that he killed Torrez over a conflicted marriage proposal. Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said that Samuel killed Torrez because she didn’t want to elope. Rosenblum contested the eloping claim and said that there were conflicting versions of that story among witnesses. Some witnesses said Torrez rejected his proposal, others, however, said that they brought it up jokingly and that the two were more friends than an actual couple, Murphy said. The prosecutor sidestepped the conflicting eloping claim made by the defense and instead focused on the defense’s depiction of the murder, saying it didn’t make sense. In response to the argument that Samuel’s DNA should have been all over the car that Torrez was found in, the district attorney concluded that Samuel simply did not shed any DNA. The defense called the claim that Samuel is not a DNA shedder outrageous. Samuel’s attorney told the jury that the prosecution should have provided proof that Samuel doesn’t shed DNA before starting the trial. Rosenblum also asked the jury if they heard any evidence of Torrez’s car being cleaned. SEE TRIAL
3
AMANDA SHARP / DAILY TITAN
Five fire agencies responded to a fire at Dillon’s Bar and Grill early Sunday. The blaze was put out shortly after 9 a.m., but no part of the building was undamaged by the fire, leading fire officials to declare the building a “total loss.” Nearby businesses were also evacuated, but tenants were allowed back in later in the day.
Fire began Sunday morning, resulted in ‘total loss’ ALEX GROVES Daily Titan About 80 firefighters from five agencies fought a structural fire that broke out Sunday at Dillon’s Bar and Grill on Nutwood Avenue in Fullerton, Deputy Chief of Fullerton Fire Department Julie Kunze said. The bar was described as a total loss with no part of the building unscathed by the fire. The fire was first reported by an eyewitness shortly before 6 a.m. and a one-alarm
fire battalion was assigned to fight the blaze, Kunze said. Additional resources were assigned as the blaze grew over the next few hours. The fire reached a four-alarm, four battalion designation before resources were able to control it. The fire was knocked down shortly after 9 a.m., but firefighters remained throughout the day to douse the structure with water in order to cool it down. While she couldn’t assign an exact dollar amount to the damage, Kunze said the bar’s owners could be looking at somewhere between $2-3 million-worth of damage. SEE FIRE
2
AMANDA SHARP / DAILY TITAN
The fire, which was reported around 6 a.m., caused an estimated $2-3 million in damage, a fire official said, but no civilians or firefighters were hurt as a result of the blaze.
Titan baseball sweeps Baylor
CSUF offense erupts for 28 runs in the series MATT CORKILL Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton’s offense seems to have finally shaken the offseason rust, as it exploded for 28 runs on 38 total hits this weekend during the Titans’ three-game series sweep over the Baylor Bears. With the wins, Fullerton pulls to .500 on the season at 5-5. With weather forecasts promising rain over the weekend, the three-game set was pushed to a doubleheader on Friday and the final game on Saturday. During the Friday doubleheader, the Titans set their season-high hit total at 15 in the first game, before setting the new mark at 16 in the next. In game one, junior starter Thomas Eshelman (12) took to the mound tied
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @THEDAILYTITAN
for the nation’s fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 18-1, but had yet to earn his first victory due to a lack of run support during his prior starts. That was not the case on Friday, as the Titans rallied for four runs on seven hits in the first three innings to give Eshelman all he needed. Eshelman went seven innings, allowing one earned run on five hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks in that stretch. “I just kind of beared down. In the back of my head I was just thinking that these guys picked me up, so I need to pick them up right now,” Eshelman said. “... It was just one of those days where I needed to make big pitches at big moments, and it happened for me today.” The offensive surge in game one saw six Titan batters with multiple-hit games, including junior left fielder Tyler Stieb’s three-run, two-RBI performance. “It feels great. We needed
MATT CORKILL / DAILY TITAN
Sophomore outfielder Hunter Cullen celebrates scoring a run in the Baylor series. The Titans would go on to score 28 runs in the homestand and sweep the Bears 10-1, 11-6 and 7-6.
that. It’s been a hard start, but now it’s all starting to come together and we’re starting to figure it out,” Stieb said following the 31 hits collected on Friday.
Game two began with the Bears and Titans exchanging the lead three times in the first four innings, before the Titans found themselves trailing
by three runs in the top of the sixth inning and down 5-6 coming into the bottom of the eighth. SEE BASEBALL
8
VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM