Prosecutor Tim Wellman alleges that that Quochuy "Tony" Tran is the person who fired the shot that killed Ichinkhorloo "Iko" Bayarsaikhan her during an attempted robbery at Washington Park at 799 Central Ave. in Alameda at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2007. Tran was 16 at the time and is now 19.
Tran's attorney, Anne Beles, asked jurors to find Tran not guilty, saying that it's unclear who fired the shot that killed Bayarsaikhan, who had moved from her native of Mongolia to the U.S. three years earlier.
Beles also argued that the attempted robbery was over by the time the fatal shot was fired, so Tran shouldn't be found guilty under the state's felony murder rule.
Under that rule, a defendant can be found guilty of murder even if he didn't fire the fatal shot as long as he was participating in a dangerous crime, such as a robbery, in which someone is killed.
Wellman said Iko, who was a junior at Alameda High School, and a group of nine friends were hanging out in the park when they were approached by Tran and a group of five of his friends.
Tran and his friends had met at Lincoln Recreation Center in Oakland earlier in the evening and decided to go to Alameda to commit a robbery, according to Wellman.
Wellman said one of Tran's friends was carrying a .22-caliber rifle and that friend gave the rifle to another member of their group, who fired four warning shots into the air during the attempt to rob Iko and her friends.
But he said some of Iko's friends thought the gun wasn't real because it didn't make a loud sound, so they walked toward Tran and his friends.
Wellman said Tran then grabbed the gun and fired a single shot that killed Iko.
Iko screamed and fell to the ground after she was shot, he said. The bullet entered her back, went through her left lung and ripped through her heart, according to Wellman. She was pronounced dead at Highland Hospital in Oakland around 11 p.m.
Tran and five of his friends were arrested after the shooting and they all were charged with murder in connection with the shooting because Iko's death occurred during an attempted robbery, Wellman said.
The other five defendants were convicted of murder in juvenile court. Tran is the only one being prosecuted as an adult.
The other five defendants testified in Tran's trial.
