Mercury News
February 20, 2003
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Nicole Brown, who told four men that the girl they knew as Lida was anatomically male, also said she feared for her own safety the night of Oct. 3.
``I thought I was in danger. I thought if I tried to help her I would be hurt,'' Brown said during the continuing preliminary hearing that will determine whether four men should be tried in Araujo's death.
Brown said she never called police -- even after learning Araujo was dead -- because she feared Michael William Magidson, the man she said hit the victim.
Jose Merel, 23, and Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, both of Newark, and Fremont residents Magidson, 22, and Jason Cazares, 23, are all charged with beating and strangling Araujo.
The defendants previously had sexual relations with the victim, and that night they had set out to resolve the question of Araujo's gender, which Brown said had been troubling them for weeks.
Magidson accompanied Araujo into a bathroom at the Merel home, Brown said. When he failed to emerge some 30 minutes later, the others sent Brown in.
Brown's announcement that Araujo was male set off a chain reaction of chaos and violence.
At one point, Brown said she tried to soothe a distraught Merel by assuring him that sex with Araujo did not make him gay.
``Any girl you meet after this it won't make a difference,'' Brown said she told Merel as he was crying and pacing the hall. ``You'll still look like the football player I know you as.''
Later, Brown said she tried to stop Magidson from beating Araujo.
``Mike threw her against the wall and hit her twice in the head. . . . He choked her,'' Brown said, describing a gurgling sound coming from the victim. ``I was yelling at him to stop.''
Brown testified that she tried to get Araujo to leave but that the teen was stopped outside the home by Magidson, Nabors and Cazares. Brown said she feared for Araujo, but feared for own safety more. Brown said she saw a deranged-looking Magidson, blood splattered on his shaking hands.
``The look in Mike's eyes at that point scared me,'' she said.
Brown left the house with her boyfriend, Paul Merel, Jose Merel's older brother. She said they circled the block once -- passing the Newark Police Department along the way -- and came upon Magidson and Cazares leaving in Magidson's truck. When asked where they were going, Brown said the two defendants responded, ``We're going to get shovels.''
Two weeks later, Araujo's beaten and bound body was found buried in a shallow grave near Placerville.
Brown's testimony comes midpoint in the preliminary hearing. She conceded that she lied to authorities more than once about important details to keep herself out of jail. She is the second witness in the hearing to identify Magidson as the primary aggressor in the attack.
Robert Beles, Nabors' attorney, said Brown's testimony places his client ``on the fringe of things,'' which he hopes will support his contention that Nabors was a bystander. Nabors led police to Araujo's body.
But Magidson's attorney, Michael Thorman, said he was not overly concerned.
``I'm not surprised by the testimony,'' he said, declining further comment.
The hearing will continue Monday.
February 19, 2003
Prosecutors say Lida - 17-year-old Eddie "Gwen" Araujo - was killed at a party in the early morning hours of Oct. 4. Brown, who was at the party, provided vivid details about what happened that night as she described how the group's doubts about Araujo's sexual identity escalated into violence, ending with the grim declaration, "We're going to get some shovels."
Brown's testimony came at a hearing to determine whether four men - Jose Antonio Merel, 23, Michael William Magidson, 22, Jason Michael Cazares, 22, and Jaron Chase Nabors, 19 - should stand trial for Araujo's death, which is being charged as a hate crime.
Police say Araujo was beaten and strangled at the Merel house in suburban Newark. About two weeks later, police say, Nabors led them to the body, buried in a shallow grave in the Sierra foothills about 150 miles east.
Brown, who was then dating Jose Merel's older brother, Paul, said she went to the Merels' on October 3, and she and Araujo made a beer run, picking up an 18-pack of Budweiser.
Brown said she drank several beers that night and also smoked some marijuana, prompting defense attorneys to question the accuracy of her memory.
Brown said she was "blurred about the night" but was not so drunk she could not tell what was happening.
Defense lawyers also pointed out inconsistencies between Brown's testimony and things she told police earlier. Brown said she had withheld some information earlier because she was afraid.
Testifying Wednesday, Brown said she was in a bedroom of the house when she heard noises and walked out to find Lida sitting in a chair pushed close to the wall while Jose Merel screamed in her face, "Are you a man or a woman?"
Brown said Magidson decided to take Araujo into a bathroom and find out.
She said the two were gone for 30 to 45 minutes, during which time the other three men told Brown that it would be better if she tried to ascertain Araujo's biological sex. Brown said she went to the bathroom and could hear Magidson and Araujo talking in low voices. She said she knocked on the door and went in, finding Araujo sitting on the bathroom sink.
"I looked at her and she looked at me. I said, `You don't mind if I check?' and she didn't answer me," Brown said. Brown said she pushed Araujo's legs apart and grabbed at the genital area.
"I yelled, 'I felt something!"' Brown said.
Brown said Araujo just looked puzzled and remained sitting on the sink with her head down.
Later, Brown said she saw Jose Merel, who she said had talked about having sexual contact with Araujo, crying.
"I walked up to him and I grabbed him by the shoulders and I said, 'It's not your fault,"' Brown said. "I said, 'I went to high school with you. You were on the football team. Any woman that knows you after this - it's not going to matter. You'll still look like the football player I know you as. Just let her go."
Brown said she warned Araujo, "They're very angry. I think you should go now." Araujo got as far as the front yard but was walked back in by Magidson, Cazares and Nabors, Brown said.
Brown said she saw Magidson throw Araujo against the wall and punch her in the head twice. Brown also said Magidson grabbed Araujo by the neck. Brown made a choking sound to indicate how Araujo sounded as she struggled to breathe.
Sitting in the courtroom, Sylvia Guerrero, Araujo's mother, closed her eyes, shuddered and then left the courtroom, her eyes full of tears.
Brown said she screamed when Magidson had his arm around Araujo's neck and Emmanuel Merel, Jose's younger brother, pulled Magidson off.
Brown said she and Paul Merel left the house shortly after that. She described Araujo as saying little throughout the evening although she did say Araujo threatened to call police after the punching started.
Before they went, Brown said she saw Magidson with spatters of blood on his hands, which were shaking. Brown said she saw Araujo sitting on a couch but did not make any attempt to get her out of the house.
"They were very very angry and I believed if I took her out of the house I would have got hurt," she said.
Brown said Paul Merel told her to drive around the block and as she circled back to the Merel house she saw Magidson and Cazares driving away in a truck. Brown said one of the two said, "We're going to get shovels."
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