On October 25, 2006, Iranian-American Hamed Mir-abdal—a marijuana dealer—was brutally stabbed. As a result, the victim, who was 19-years-old at the time, suffered a stroke, several seizers, was in a coma for nearly two months and was left partially paralyzed.
Ali Mirabdal, the victim’s father, said the attack left his son with a completely paralyzed left hand and partially paralyzed right hand. He said his son is now in constant pain as a result of permanent damage to his nerves.
Law enforcement officials charged Blake Mastro and Nicholas Flatbush, both in their mid 20s. They said the pair lured Mirabdal to a dark road near Berkeley, robbing and then brutally assaulting him.
Deputy District Attorney Eric Swalwell said Flatbush held the victim while Mastro stabbed him repeatedly. The pair is on trial for attempted murder.
Mirabdal, who now gets around in a wheelchair, testified February 23 that he never saw the man who held him from behind, but that he was “100 percent sure” Mastro was the man who violently stabbed him. Without any physical evidence, Flatbush and Mirabdal’s testimony are the only things linking Mastro to the crime, which could carry a life sentence.
Mastro’s lawyer, Joann Kingston, and his brother, Joe Mastro, claim that Flatbush was the sole attacker, and that Mastro was nowhere near the scene of the crime. Kingston also claimed that Mirabdal’s memory was impaired by his stroke and subsequent coma, and said Mirabdal had to be coached to remember details of the incident because of trauma to his brain.
Mirabdal’s testimony has reportedly changed since the first time police interviewed him December 14, 2006. Initially, Mirabdal claimed four men in masks attacked him, but four days later, he identified Mastro as his assailant. During that time, Flatbush also reportedly told police a similar story after he was arrested.
As a result, lawyers on both sides tested Mirabdal’s memory during six hours of testimony, in which they asked the defendant details about the incident. Mirabdal successfully identified the apartment building in Albany where he said he met Mastro on the night in question. Mirabdal testified that the two then drove to a house to pick up a dozen 9mm handguns that Mastro reportedly offered to sell to him.
Mirabdal testified that they stopped on the way to the Berkeley hills for a “middleman,” who Mastro introduced as Nick. At the time, Mirabdal was reportedly carrying $1,500 in cash, which he had saved from his restaurant job, and a bag of marijuana. The victim had been selling marijuana that he reportedly bought from medical cannabis clubs in the Berkeley and Richmond area and was looking to buy a gun for protection.