Brutal abuser or assault victim? Fresno trial begins for man accused of murdering girlfriend
On the opening day of James Gonzales-Gay’s murder trial Wednesday, prosecutor Elana Smith described the relationship he had with his 22-year-old girlfriend as damaging, violent and toxic.
She said it would also prove to be deadly.
Gonzales-Gay, 39, is accused of the Sept. 15, 2017 murder of Breanna Bradford. Police said she was shot several times and was left to die in her silver Volkswagen GTI near Ventura Avenue and Ninth Street.
Gonzales-Gay admitted to police and a family member of Bradford’s that he killed her, said his attorney Mark Siegel.
But Siegel told jurors his client’s his state of mind at the time of Bradford’s death could make a difference in this case.
“The defense does not claim that Mr. Gonzales-Gay did not commit a crime,” Siegel said. “But at the end of this trial you will receive further instructions on what it is he did do.”
Siegel told jurors that in August 2017, Gonzales-Gay was drugged and passed out while at Bradford’s apartment. When he woke up he was bleeding and realized he had been sexually assaulted by someone Bradford had invited. She denied knowing what happened, Siegel said.
But prosecutor Smith said what’s clear to her is that Gonzales-Gay was abusive to Bradford, and she was afraid of him. The victim told her friends about the night he entered her one-bedroom apartment and just stood over her bed, Smith said.
“She was startled because she did not expect him to be there,” Smith said. “When she opened her eyes he told her, ‘I could have killed you twice, but I didn’t. The third time I am not going to miss.’”
He would return a day and a half later demanding a ride out of Fresno. Bradford’s nephew, Garry Sampson, testified he was there that night and recalled how persistent Gonzales-Gay was.
Gonzales-Gay told them someone was out to get him. He was also allegedly armed with two handguns and a switchblade. At one point he allegedly placed them on the kitchen table. “He said they were for his protection,” Sampson testified.
Sampson testified he noticed Gonzales-Gay was acting strange and was possibly on drugs. “He was kind of really hyper,” he said. “He was also making a lot of movements and his eyes were bulging.”
Sampson said his “auntie” Bradford finally relented to Gonzales-Gay’s demands and they left in her car.
He thought Bradford was coming right back because she left her purse and her cell phone. But she didn’t come back, Sampson testified. Family members reported her missing the next day after she failed to show up for her morning shift at work.
Detectives learned that Gonzales-Gay tried to use Bradford’s debit cards that night and early morning, but he didn’t have her pin number. Smith said the defendant couldn’t get it from Bradford because he had already killed her.
During their drive, Siegel said his client Gonzales-Gay got a phone call from one of his friends, who wanted to meet up with him. His friend told him to meet him at “the apartment” where there was a woman talking about what happened to him the night he was drugged and woke up bleeding.
“He tells (Bradford) there is a girl he needs to meet who said she is responsible for what happened to him,” Siegel said.
At that moment, Siegel told jurors his client believed there was an expression of “guilt” on Bradford’s face.
“The emotional pain of having been violated returns to him in a rush,” Siegel told jurors. “He still has a gun on him and everything he does from that point on he does when his mind is on autopilot.”
Gonzales-Gay was arrested later that day on an unrelated charge of trying to carjack a U.S. Postal Mail truck in southeast Fresno.
This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
