Wednesday, March 24, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.
A woman who witnessed the slaying of her sister and her friend in a desert area in southwest Las Vegas before she was herself was shot twice in the head told jurors her story of survival on Tuesday.
The dramatic testimony kicked off the capital murder trial of aspiring R&B singer Alfonso "Slinkey" Blake, 33.
Kim Choy, 24, said she watched Blake shoot her sister, Sophear Choy, 19, and her friend, Priscilla Van Dine, 22, in the head before Blake turned the gun on her.
"I put my hands up over my head and waved them back and forth," she said. "I took one look at him, that last look, and he shot me."
"Everything was in slow motion, everything went black.
"I feel this explosion in my head. My head just felt so hot. I just laid there, closed my eyes and held my breath and played dead."
Kim Choy said the March 5, 2003, shooting came after Blake marched the women into a desert area near Decatur Boulevard and Lone Grove Road and ordered them onto their hands and knees.
Blake put gloves on before pulling out a silver revolver and systematically shooting the women one by one, she said.
"He didn't give us any warning, he just shot (Van Dine) in the head," Choy said.
Next, Blake aimed the gun at Sophear Choy, who was in her older sister's arms, Kim Choy said.
"He shot my sister and out of reaction I dropped her," she said, weeping.
Kim Choy said she heard two more shots before she was shot twice in her head.
Authorities say at least two additional bullets ricocheted off the rings on her hands. From the witness stand, Choy showed jurors the rings she credits with saving her life.
"I carry these with me every day," she said.
Blake, who sat with his head in his hand during most of Kim Choy's testimony, faces two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder with a deadly weapon in the shooting.
"The evidence in this case is overwhelming," Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas said.
Blake entered a last-minute plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorney, Pete Christiansen, said a personality disorder and a psychotic delusion rendered his client criminally insane when he pulled the trigger.
"The mental state of the defendant at the time of the shooting was such that he did not appreciate right from wrong," Christiansen said. "The way the law works, you have to be sane to be responsible."
Choy said the events that led up to the slayings were set in motion as early as November 2002, when Sophear Choy met Blake at the Olympic Garden, where she worked as a cocktail server and Van Dine worked as a dancer.
The sisters had recently moved to Las Vegas from California. Kim Choy worked as a dancer at several local topless clubs, including Cheetahs, Sapphires and Jaguars.
Blake, whom the women knew only as Eric, told Sophear Choy that he had three vacant bedrooms in his house that he would rent to the women for $500 each month. He also offered to pay for the women's gym membership and health insurance, Kim Choy said.
"He said he liked to help people because he had all this extra money and he was a nice person," she said.
Three other women, who were also dancers, already lived in Blake's house, prosecutors said. One of those women, Gina Chung, is expected to testify during the trial.
"Each girl was providing every dime she made to the defendant," Daskas said.
Kim Choy said she, her sister and Van Dine were slated to move into the house, but changed their minds when they learned of Blake's strict house rules -- they could not have visitors, they could not go out without him and no one was to know where Blake lived, she said.
During the late night hours of March 4, 2003, the women and several friends went to Blake's house to retrieve some of the items they had stored in his garage. They were unable to fit all their belongings in their vehicles, however, and arranged to return to the house later that night to get the rest of their things.
On the way back to the house, an angry Blake threatened to leave the rest of the women's belongings in the middle of the street, Kim Choy said. When they pulled up to the corner of Loan Grove Road and Decatur Boulevard, several boxes and items of furniture were in the intersection, she said.
Kim Choy said the women were loading their belongings into their truck when two sport utility vehicles pulled up. Blake and his three female roommates got out of the trucks and surrounded Sophear Choy, Kim Choy said.
"Eric just rushed out of the car and pushed my sister," she said. "Then I saw my sister fall to the ground."
As Blake and the women attacked her sister, Kim Choy, who was standing a several yards away, dialed 911 on her cell phone, she said.
Jurors on Monday heard the 911 call, in which Kim Choy tells the operator that her sister "is getting beat up." There is a sound of a struggle and the phone hangs up. Kim Choy said Blake snatched the phone out of her hand.
Kim Choy said it wasn't until after the scuffle that she realized her sister had been badly hurt. Sophear Choy had been stabbed several times during the fight.
"She was slouched over and she couldn't walk," Kim Choy said.
She said Blake then brought Sophear Choy over to her and told all three women to calm down.
"He said, 'We're going to take a walk. Just calm down,' " Kim Choy said.
She said Blake's three roommates drove the three trucks away at Blake's direction and Blake ordered the remaining three into the nearby desert.
"He said, 'Look what she made me do. She made me (expletive) stab her,' " Choy said Blake muttered as he guided them through the desert.
Once the women were far into the desert, Kim Choy said, Blake ordered them onto their hands and knees. He put on a pair of gloves, took out a silver revolver and shot each of them, she said.
When Kim Choy regained consciousness, she said, she crawled over to her sister, who was lying face up in the desert, barely breathing.
"I just grabbed her and just held her and I told her, 'We're sisters. We're always going to love each other,' " Kim Choy said, crying.
She then told her sister she had to leave her in order to get help.
"She shed one teardrop from her right eye," Kim Choy said.
Kim Choy said she stumbled across the desert and into the street, where she ran into a patrol car. The car had been dispatched as the result of her earlier 911 call.
Daskas said Blake fled to California after the shooting and sought medical attention there for several stab wounds he sustained the night of the slayings. Blake checked into a Southern California hospital under an alias and told doctors he had been robbed and stabbed at a club in Los Angeles, Daskas said.
It was in the California hospital that Blake called Las Vegas and learned that Kim Choy had survived the shooting. Upon hearing the news, Blake was overheard saying, "That's impossible. I shot them all in the head twice,' " Daskas said.
"It was the one thing he never expected," Daskas said during his opening argument. "A survivor."
Testimony in the trial is expected to continue today.
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