Standing Up: Davien’s Story

As a shooting victim, Davien Graham stayed at Huntington Hospital under a fake name. He felt safe there, socializing with staff and other patients. He became a popular figure on his floor, the walls of his room papered with get-well cards. Here he exults as prepares to go home.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Two days before his 17th birthday, Davien Graham celebrates at a homecoming party hosted by his aunt and uncle in Monrovia. Three days later, he testified at a preliminary hearing at which a judge decided there was enough evidence for Jimmy Santana to stand trial for attempted murder in connection with Davien’s shooting on Jan. 12, 2008.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

At Davien’s homecoming party in March 2008, friends and family didn’t know what to say after seeing him in a wheelchair and in so much pain.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A nurse, left, comforts Davien Graham’s grandmother while his uncle, Terry Alford, a former Crip, pushes him toward the family car as he leaves Huntington Hospital for his Monrovia home.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

The house Davien Graham returned to after he was shot -- a house he shared with his aunt, uncle, three siblings and two cousins -- was difficult to navigate in a wheelchair. Davien spent a lot of time in his room, in bed, wondering if he would ever return to school.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

After the shooting, it took months for Davien to recover his strength. He eventually returned to Monrovia High School for his senior year, rejoining his girlfriend at the time, Bree Weissenborn, to his left, and others.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Simulating the gun that had been pointed at him, Davien testifies before Judge David Milton at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Alhambra on March 18, 2008, the day after his 17th birthday. Milton found probable cause to charge Jimmy Santana with attempted murder in connection with Davien’s shooting.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Davien’s uncle, Terry Alford, wheels him back to the site of the shooting outside Calvary Grace on Monrovia’s Peck Road, urging him to confront his fears. During the time since he was shot, Davien knew three other people who’d been gunned down in the Monrovia area. None was a gang member.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Davien had been cleaning Calvary Grace, a Southern Baptist church in Monrovia, the day he was shot. On Palm Sunday in 2008, he returned to the church for the first time since the shooting.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Bree Weissenborn, Davien’s high school girlfriend at the time, accompanies him to Palm Sunday services in March 2008. He tried to listen to the sermon, but he couldn’t concentrate. His spine was throbbing again.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Davien prepares to testify against Santana. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Scott Schulze, lead investigator in the case, whom he had come to trust, escorts him into court. Three years before, sheriff’s investigators had placed Davien in protective custody after they intercepted threats against him at the county jail.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Davien and his uncle, a former Crip, wait for his aunt to pull the car around after Davien testified at a preliminary hearing for Jimmy Santana, a former classmate and a suspected member of the Latino gang Monrovia Nuevo Varrio. When they emerged from the courthouse, even with sheriff’s deputies to guard them, Davien and his uncle worried that they might be attacked or followed by retaliating gang members.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Jimmy Santana listens to testimony during his trial in late January 2012 in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Alhambra. Santana was accused of shooting Davien Graham in a gang-related attack on Jan. 12, 2008. He remained in jail while the trial was repeatedly delayed.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Maria Santana, Jimmy Santana’s mother, is sworn in with the aid of a translator. Santana testified that her son was home with her at the time Davien Graham was shot.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)