Sonoma State University Stabbing: Courtroom Packed For Hearing

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A preliminary hearing for a Santa Rosa man charged with a stabbing murder at Sonoma State University in May got underway this morning in a nearly full Sonoma County Superior Court room. Tyler Bratton, 20, is charged with the voluntary manslaughter of Steven John Garcia, 26, of Santa Rosa, in a SSU dorm room on May 13.

Bratton's girlfriend at the time, Riley O' Rourke, 19, a student at SSU, testified about the events leading up to the fatal stabbing.

O'Rourke said Garcia's girlfriend, Rebecca Stjern, had access to the code to her dorm room door on campus and Stjern may have taken her wallet and car keys when she was not home.

She said she and Bratton were in the dorm room when they heard someone, they presumed to be Stjern, press the code to open the door. Bratton had a folding knife and he had smoked methamphetamine in her bathroom before the confrontation.

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By Bay City News Service

Photo by Al Francis/Napasonomaphotos.com