Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Claire Padgett Tekle Sebhatu leaves the sacramento county courthouse with his extended family. Tekle says his immediate family was not present because, " It is too hard for them, they could not bear it emotionally." [Click to enlarge]

The second pretrial of a 23-year-old man arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of a Sacramento State student occurred Friday at the Sacramento County Superior Court.

David Allen Falls of Sacramento, sat quiet, listening to multiple witness accounts of the night journalism student, Kebret Tekle, was shot in an alleged gang fight at The Library Eats and Drinks bar on Folsom Boulevard on May 3, 2007.

Family and friends sat stone-faced, listening as witness after witness recounted their memories of the night Tekle, according to police, was shot while sitting in her car.

Falls, if convicted, could face 50 years to life for homicide using a gun.

A shaky, unidentified witness told attorneys she remembered a fight with about three men the night of the shooting. As security at the bar broke up the fight, the witness said people headed toward windows.

Shortly later, the witness said she ran out of the bar and saw a black man crouching by the car. However, she could not identify whether or not Falls, sitting at the front of the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit, was the same person seen by the car.

In an e-mail earlier this week, Tekle's father Tekle Sebhatu said his daughter was a loving and devoted friend and sister. After her death, her organs were donated and helped save the lives of four people.

Sebhatu said this gesture helped demonstrate his daughter's involvement in the community and passion for people during her life.

This is the first time the Tekle family has agreed to speak with media, but Sebhatu said his family is still in pain.

"This (has) been traumatic on our entire family and we hope that no family will go through this," Sebhatu said.

Natalie Flynn can be reached at nflynn@statehornet.com

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