Drug use before fatal stabbing detailed

Two friends of a 21-year-old Analy High School grad stabbed to death at a party in December testified Monday that their group drank alcohol and smoked marijuana for several hours before Benjamin Floriani was fatally wounded in a violent brawl.

One young man said Floriani showed him a small pistol he was carrying as they stopped to buy vodka and Hennessey cognac on the way to the party in a townhouse off West Ninth Street on Dec. 15.

The testimony came during the first day of a preliminary hearing for three men charged with murder in Floriani's death: Matthew Timothy O'Day, 20, Donald Blake Bittner, 20, and Alex Paul Hopper, 20.

They have pleaded not guilty and are being held in Sonoma County Jail. They face decades in prison if convicted.

A fourth man, Noah Minuskin, 19, is charged as an accessory and has waived his preliminary hearing.

Neither of the first two witnesses who took the stand Monday testified that he saw any of the three defendants commit crimes.

Prosecutor Craig Brooks said he will have at least 15 witnesses, most of whom are young people who attended the party.

In their cross-examinations of the two witnesses, defense attorneys focused on Floriani's reputation and behavior that night, as well as whether he was carrying a gun.

After the hearing, which could last until the end of the week, Judge Ken Gnoss will determine whether there is probable cause to hold the young men for trial on murder charges.

O'Day is a younger brother of Patrick O'Day, a Marine who in 2003 became the first Sonoma County serviceman to die in the Iraq war. Another brother, Rory, 18, was arrested but not charged in the case.

Floriani was studying business at San Francisco State University and had made the dean's list in 2006. According to testimony, he was living in Oakland at the time of his death, but returned to Sonoma County on weekends.

Floriani and defendants Hopper and Bittner were on probation at the time of the slaying.

Floriani's friend, James Arata, testified Monday that Floriani bought alcohol for his friends at Safeway before attending the party. In the store parking lot, he showed Arata a small handgun he was carrying, Arata said.

When the group got to the party, Arata said, he overheard a girl wondering why someone would bring a gun to the party.

About a half hour later, he said, two of his and Floriani's friends were involved in separate fights, one in which Efran Vazquez, 22, was stabbed and Martin Ponzo, 20, was "poked" with some kind of weapon.

Shortly afterward, Floriani was fatally stabbed. Though as many as 10 people remained in the house where Floriani was fatally wounded, the gun has never been found.

According to police, another young man Floriani went to the party with, Aniano Vazquez, 21, also was stabbed.

Clint MacGowan, 21, testified that he drove with Arata, Floriani and Vazquez to the party, but he said he didn't know about a gun.

He said Hopper confronted him at the party as he was standing next to Floriani, accusing him of "talking s---." MacGowan said he and Hopper briefly exchanged insults and someone he couldn't identify struck him from behind. He said at least two people kicked him while he was on the ground.

MacGowan said Ponzo pulled one man off him and he believes Arata pulled off another before he and Ponzo went to a bathroom.

When he came out, he said he saw Floriani and Aniano Vazquez lying on the floor and Efran Vazquez lying on the front steps. All three were wounded.

Arata testified that he ran outside and helped Efran Vazquez, who he said had been stabbed in the right hip area.

He said he didn't see anyone with a knife. MacGowan testified that other than Hopper, he didn't see anyone else in the courtroom Monday whom he recognized from the party.

The hearing continues today.

You can reach Staff Writer L.A. Carter at 568-5312 and lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.