PASADENA, Calif. — Jurors will continue to hear testimony in the murder trial of adult actress Felicia Tang when trial resumes Monday.
The trial, going into its sixth day, has included testimony from one of Tang’s friends, her sister and a medical examiner, with Brian Randone’s defense attorney trying to cast doubt on some testimony involving the medical examiner.
Randone is accused of torturing, suffocating and murdering 31-year-old Tang, his live-in girlfriend at the time, inside the couple’s Monrovia apartment on Sept. 11, 2009.
Randone’s defense claims a deadly dose of the drug GHB stopped Tang from breathing after she sustained 320 wounds while stumbling around her apartment and falling through closet doors.
In cross examination of Los Angeles County medical examiner Dr. Ajay Panchal, defense counsel Mark Overland disputed the finding that Tang was killed by suffocation.
“If you’re so sure the toxicology report was not going to make a difference, why didn’t you put suffocation as your cause of death in your draft report?” Overland asked.
Panchal explained that typically cause of death are defered “until toxicology tests and neurological examines are completed” and that the injuries Tang sustained to her face and neck were proof she was forcibly suffocated.
“My conclusion is that clearly it’s a homicide,” Panchal said.
Later, Tang’s friend, Shannon Donnan, testified that together they’d take GHB that sometimes lasted for days. Donnan said Tang would sometimes take GHB while also using cocaine or crystal methamphetamine.
She said Tang never became violent while using the drugs, and that sometimes she danced or rollerskated while high on them.
“She wanted to have fun,” Donnan said. “She wasn’t aggressive in any form.”
Earlier this week the trial took an emotional edge when Tang’s younger sister, Davlyn Tang, broke down during testimony after she was asked to identify a gold crucifix and necklace that was used in the alleged suffocation.
“It was my sister’s,” Davlyn Tang cried out.
Felicia Tang became an online-adult top draw for seven years, from 2001 to 2008.
She starred in several Playboy TV shows, appeared in several Peach DVD movies, and she starred in the pay-per-view series “Strip Poker Tournament.” She also owned softcore site FeliciaTang.com.
Randone, an Omaha, Neb., native, is a former minister and mime who was featured on a 2000 FOX reality show “The Sexiest Bachelor in America.”
Source: Rhett Pardon, XBiz
