By Kianna Anvari
SACRAMENTO — Apparently, a man staying in a local Motel 6 got more than he bargained for when he invited a woman over to his room, according to testimony heard in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The man claims he was assaulted by two men at a Motel 6, and now Alyssia Powell, represented by Assistant Public Defender Eliza Hook, faces three felonies Wednesday during her preliminary hearing.
Powell pleaded not guilty to one count of robbery in the first degree, one count of unlawful driving and taking of a vehicle valued more than $950, and another count of receiving a known stolen vehicle.
Under the supervision of Sacramento Deputy District Attorney Paris Coleman, certified legal intern Paige Arseneaux represented the prosecution via Zoom.
Arseneaux called one witness during Powell’s preliminary hearing, Sacramento Police Officer Chai Vang, who was dispatched to the Motel 6 during the early morning of June 10.
Vang said that when he arrived at the motel’s front office, he spotted the shirtless victim covered in blood, with a telephone cord wrapped around one ankle.
The victim told Vang that he had just returned from Los Angeles. He said that he borrowed his friend’s recently purchased 1999 white Ford Explorer for the trip. The victim explained that he met Powell two months prior and that she kept contacting him during his trip.
So, he invited her over to his motel room when he returned to Sacramento. He was not expecting anyone else besides her to come.
Vang said the victim explained that when he opened the door for Powell, there were two men with her who had handguns pointed at him. She stepped to the side and the two men hit the victim on the head with their guns.
They ordered him to lie on the bed and they hit him a few more times. They tied his ankles and wrists with a telephone cord and took his wallet, car keys, and phone. One of the men told him that if he left the room, he would shoot him.
The victim waited a few moments after they left to run out to the front office and call 911. He told Vang that he saw three people walking toward the Ford Explorer. While he was on the phone, he saw the Ford Explorer exit the parking lot following a brown car.
Officer Vang said that about six minutes after police arrived on scene, they got word that UC Davis Police located the vehicle at a 7-Eleven store. Vang drove the victim to the 7-Eleven, where he identified Powell who was found inside the vehicle. One of the male subjects fled from the vehicle and they were unable to locate him.
During cross-examination, Vang told PD Hook that Powell did not say anything when the victim opened the door nor did she ever enter the room.
Hook asked Vang if officers obtained surveillance footage from the motel’s front desk and from the 7-Eleven store, to which he said both had footage but did not have access to it.
Hook questioned whether the officer had confirmed if Powell was called over as an escort. The victim told Vang that she was not. Vang added that Powell did not have a firearm on her person nor did they find one in the vehicle.
In re-direct, Arseneaux asked if the victim indicated whether Powell was scared or forced into the vehicle, to which Vang answered no.
Finally, in re-cross, Hook asked if Vang was aware that Powell was taken to the hospital for a panic attack after her arrest, and he said no.
Judge Helena R. Gweon found sufficient cause to believe the defendant to be guilty. Powell will be held to answer at trial starting December 21.
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