North Bay pig blood vandalism case now in Sonoma County Superior Court
The victim, ex-wife of witness in the George Floyd case, had her Santa Rosa home splashed with pig blood.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- A gruesome case of vandalism happened in Santa Rosa two years ago, connected to testimony in the George Floyd police brutality case. And on Tuesday, the preliminary hearing began in Sonoma County Superior Court for four defendants accused of that attack. The victim, whose home was splashed from end to end with pig blood and a severed pig's head left on her doorstep, does not want to be identified. In this case, she's called "Jane Doe".
On the stand Tuesday, Jane Doe testified she's a retired Santa Rosa police officer and ex-wife of Barry Brodd, use of force expert in the George Floyd case. He testified for Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, eventually convicted of murder after kneeling on Floyd's neck.
Barry Brodd on April 13: "I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified."
RELATED: Santa Rosa pig blood vandalism tied to defense witness in Chauvin trial, police say
Even before the verdict, Jane Doe was worried about an attack at her house, the one she shared with Brodd before their divorce. She installed a surveillance camera that captured the vandals, the video played Tuesday in court. Her attorney, Richard Freeman, told the I-Team's Dan Noyes, "As she got the front door open and could see the pig's head sitting on the front porch and the blood splattered from one end of the house to the other, it started to sink in a little bit."
Brodd's ex-wife testified she was so concerned about an attack, she installed security cameras and started sleeping with her cell phone in one hand and her Glock pistol on the other side. She says she still does that to this day, because she's concerned about further vandalism or further attacks.
Jane Doe testified she saw four suspects that night, only two from that scene have been arrested.
Freeman adds, "And the thought that people that would be motivated to do and to carry out these kinds of things are still at large in the community, I think is very troubling."
RELATED: Accused Santa Rosa pig blood vandals appear in court, police say they targeted wrong house
Two more defendants are accused of using pig blood that same night to cover the hand statue in the Santa Rosa shopping plaza. The defense lawyers all declined to be interviewed, except Vincent Barrientos. He says his client, Kristen Aumoithe, admits purchasing pig blood from this the Santa Rosa butcher and splashing it on the hand statue.
"Yes, Ms. Aumoithe bought the blood," said Barrientos. "But she didn't agree to vandalize a home. She just basically passed it off without really knowing the extent of what they were going to do."
He says Aumoithe is a decorated Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. He's trying to have her case separated from the others. "She has diagnosed PTSD from things that happened over there, and I can't get a reasonable offer to put her into the veterans' court. So that's why we're litigating this."
The preliminary hearing continues Wednesday. The judge is expected to hold the four defendants over for trial.
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