Man arrested in connection with UCLA alumnus stabbing to stand trial
By Shreya Maskara
Jan. 14, 2015 2:29 a.m.
A judge ordered a Los Angeles man Tuesday to stand trial for the attempted murder of UCLA alumnus John DeMartini on Christmas Eve.
Edris Lamont Banks, 46, appeared in front of L.A. County Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman in the Airport Courthouse during a preliminary hearing Tuesday, where Zuckman heard witnesses describe the stabbing.
Police arrested Banks in connection with an attack on DeMartini in front of an animal hospital about 4 miles south of UCLA. DeMartini was walking outside the animal hospital with groceries at about 5:45 p.m. when a man matching Banks’ description attacked him, police said.
Banks, who detectives said is homeless and did not know DeMartini prior to the attack, had been arrested at least three times in L.A. prior to the stabbing.
Emma Peitzer, one of the witnesses at the hearing, said she saw Banks attacking DeMartini as she was driving down Venice Boulevard on Christmas Eve.
Peitzer said she saw Banks hit DeMartini repeatedly about 10 feet away from her car. She added that she saw Banks leave for a few seconds as DeMartini was lying on the sidewalk before Banks returned with a knife.
“I saw the defendant pull out a knife and stab (DeMartini) in the neck,” she said at the hearing.
Peitzer added that DeMartini seemed taken aback by the attack and that when she asked him if he was okay, he replied that he didn’t know.
DeMartini told the judge that Banks first sprayed him in the face with a chemical and then beat him up. DeMartini said he remembers that after he collapsed on the sidewalk after being punched, Banks sprayed him again with the chemical and then stabbed him in the neck with a knife.
“I was very disoriented,” DeMartini said, recounting the incident while sitting in the witness box.
The attack punctured DeMartini’s pulmonary vein and throat and he had wounds on his side, back and arm, he said. Paramedics took DeMartini to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center following the attack where he received emergency surgery and a tracheotomy.
Another witness, animal hospital employee Joshua Barba, said he encountered Banks yelling at pedestrians outside the animal hospital in a separate incident on the same evening as the attack.
“We got into an argument when I told (Banks) to stop disturbing pedestrians, and then he pulled out a kitchen knife with a 4-inch blade and tried to threaten me,” Barba said.
He said he soon after saw DeMartini come toward the animal hospital holding the side of his neck.
“I saw blood gushing out the middle right portion of (DeMartini’s) neck,” he said.
At the end of the hearing, Zuckman ordered Banks to stand trial for attempted murder.
He will appear in court on Jan. 27 before the trial takes place for attempted murder, and is currently being held at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic in lieu of $1,135,000 bail.
