Fatal Sonoma State Stabbing: Defendant Claims It Was Self Defense

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A Sonoma County Superior Court judge will rule Monday whether a Santa Rosa man will be held over for trial for fatally stabbing a man in a Sonoma State University dorm room in May. Testimony at a preliminary hearing Thursday indicated Tyler J. Bratton, 20, stabbed Steven John Garcia as many as six times in self-defense on May 13.

Bratton is charged with voluntary manslaughter, and both Deputy District Attorney Chris Brown and defense attorney Lynnette Brown say the issue is whether the amount of force Bratton used in his defense was
reasonable.

Bratton was dating 19-year-old SSU freshman Riley O'Rourke who testified she passed out at a party in Santa Rosa on May 12. She said when she woke up early on May 13 she wondered if she had been drugged and she
noticed her car she drove to the party was missing.

O'Rourke testified a woman she recently allowed to stay in her dorm room, Rebecca Stjern, 21, had taken her car without permission. Stjern also had her key card to the apartment, O'Rourke said.

The two women had an argument when Stjern returned in O'Rourke's car to the party house and Stjern made threats and called her a "bitch," O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke said she and Bratton returned to SSU and got into the dorm with help from a dorm assistant. Stjern showed up soon afterward with a man named Francis and she let herself in with a key card, O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke said she felt unsafe and locked herself in a bathroom as Bratton confronted Stjern and prevented her from entering her bedroom, O'Rourke said. She said she heard Stjern yelling to Bratton, "What are you
going to do stab me?"

Stjern left the dorm but returned with Garcia around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., O'Rourke said. Stjern and Garcia pushed the bedroom door open as Bratton tried to close it. Garcia grabbed Bratton's neck and throat and
during a struggle Bratton stabbed Garcia in the leg, O'Rourke said.

Stjern threatened to harm her if she called police, O'Rourke said.

She said she ran out of the dorm to call police.

The fight between Bratton and Garcia moved to the bathroom where Bratton continued stabbing Garcia. Bratton told Petaluma police Sgt. John Silva he stabbed Garcia around six times and fled the dorm room.

O'Rourke said she and Bratton were both scared, but they went to a laundry room to call Rohnert Park police. Petaluma police also arrived and began an investigation of the slaying.

Judge Robert LaForge will hear arguments from both attorneys and issue a ruling at 10:30 a.m. Monday.

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By Bay City News Service

Photo by Al Francis/Napasonomaphotos.com