By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

Oct. 2, 2002

OAKLAND —Many eyewitnesses of a Dublin steakhouse robbery that led to the death of a deputy sheriff could not positively identify the men who a prosecutor contends stormed the restaurant, lawyers said Wednesday.

In their first chance to talk to jurors, defense attorneys for three Central Valley men accused of robbing the Outback Steakhouse Dec. 11, 1998 said the usual calm near closing time was shattered that night. Robbers — armed with a handgun and two airguns — had blown into the Regional Street eatery, pushing people around and making threats, a prosecutor contends.

Stunned diners and employees worried for their safety and scurried for cover, listening to orders from the robbers to move to the back of the restaurant, said Oakland defense attorney Walter Cannady.

“All of this happened almost too rapidly for anyone to comprehend,” he said. “It was like lightning. That’s how fast and elevated this situation became.”

But lost in the fear and frenzy were the faces of the men responsible for the crime, defense lawyers said. In the five minutes from the beginning of the robbery to its deadly conclusion, few could later identify the men now on trial for killing Alameda County Deputy John Paul Monego, Cannady told jurors.

Reuben Eliceo Vasquez, 27, Miguel Galindo Sifuentes, 23, and Hai Minh Le, 23, are each charged with a first degree murder count and special circumstances that could make them eligible for a death sentence.

The men fled from the scene, prosecutor Jon Goodfellow told jurors on Tuesday, but were caught after a short chase. Police later spent hours driving witnesses passed the men, who were handcuffed and a spotlighted on darkened Dublin streets.

“The evidence will show that 10 people thought Miguel Sifuentes was Asian,” said Le attorney Richard Humphrey, of Oakland. “The evidence will show that five people thought Reuben Vasquez was Asian. The evidence will show there was misidentification and confusion.”

Defense lawyers focused on Angela Schwab, a deputy sheriff who was stripped of her gun and taken hostage shortly after responding to a 911 call from Outback. Even Schwab, a trained law enforcement officer, made the mistake of thinking the men were Filipino, they said.

Other witnesses told investigators the robbers were black, lawyers said. Still more mixed up the races of the men and the various roles they played.

Vasquez and Sifuentes are Hispanic while Le is Asian.

Lawyers for Sifuentes and Le also worked to separate their clients from the actual shooting of Monego. Authorities believe Vasquez was the triggerman, who surprised the Brentwood father that night as he responded to cover Schwab.

“The evidence will show that my client, Miguel Sifuentes, didn’t shoot John Monego,” said Pleasanton attorney Harry Traback. “There is no doubt about that.”

Cannady, who is representing Vasquez, also took aim at the manner in which authorities responded to the emergency call, saying that complacency might have played a role.

“If this response had been handled properly, Deputy Monego would never have been …,” Cannady said before being cut off by a Goodfellow objection on procedural grounds.

“I think the evidence will show,” Cannady continued after Judge Alfred Delucchi sustained the objection, “that there was never any intent to shoot an officer.”

The trial resumes today.