Cases Concluded in ‘Wrong-Way’ Killing Trial

After 12 days of often wrenching testimony, both the prosecution and defense teams concluded their cases Thursday in the trial of four young gang members accused in the 1995 “wrong-way” slaying of 3-year-old Stephanie Kuhen.

With jurors expected to hear closing arguments early next week, attorneys Thursday called a quick series of witnesses aimed at shoring up their vastly different accounts of what occurred early one morning on a dead-end street in Cypress Park.

Authorities have charged the four defendants--and one other gang member to be tried separately--with ambushing the car that carried Stephanie and her family home Sept. 17, 1995, from a birthday party. The resulting shooting killed Stephanie and injured her brother and her mother’s boyfriend.

But defense attorneys have argued that the prosecution’s case rests largely on questionable testimony from a gang member who was arrested and later granted immunity from prosecution. The defense has also contended that those responsible for the shooting may have panicked because the neighborhood is known for gang violence and no one recognized the car carrying Stephanie and her family.

An attorney for one of the defendants asked Superior Court Judge Edward Ferns on Wednesday to allow jurors to consider the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting on the grounds that there has been testimony about the fear that gripped some of those on the street. But Ferns denied that request, arguing that it could be used only if any or all of the defendants took the stand to testify about their state of mind at the time of the shooting.