He ‘deserves no mercy.’ Fresno County man who murdered girlfriend faces victim’s family
Breanna Bradford was a shining light who loved to sing, dance and most of all smile, her friends and family said.
They gathered Friday in a Fresno County courtroom to honor the 22-year-old Bradford and to condemn the man found guilty of killing her: James Gonzales-Gay.
“Today should not be about the defendant, it should be about Breanna,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Elana Smith. “She was young, bright, funny and hard-working. She did not deserve to die. This was a brutal and heinous crime and the defendant deserves no mercy from the court.”
Judge David Gottlieb had no qualms about sentencing the 39-year-old Gonzales-Gay to 100 years to life in prison for the 2017 murder of Bradford, his one-time girlfriend.
“This was a cold and calculated murder and a jury of your peers found you guilty,” Gottlieb said. “Of course this type of behavior was not isolated. In the past, you have made choices to be violent or commit criminal activity.”
It took the jury less than three hours to find the Sanger man guilty of first-degree murder.
During his trial, police testified that Gonzales-Gay murdered Bradford on September, 15, 2017 after going over to her Fresno apartment and demanding a ride to Sanger. After several random stops, including a Jack in the Box in Hanford, he shot her as they sat together in her silver Volkswagen GTI, according to detectives.
Police found her body a few days later. She was sitting in the passenger seat of the Volkswagen parked on Ventura Avenue and Ninth Street. Her body was loosely wrapped in a table cloth Gonzales-Gay got from his mother’s house. Her head was covered with a cardboard box.
The prosecution argued Gonzales-Gay was a convicted felon with a history of being abusive, controlling and violent.
The defense had argued Gonzales-Gay killed Bradford because he’d said he was sexually assaulted by someone the victim knew. But jurors did not accept that explanation.
Bradford’s older sister Tameka Lewis told the judge she and her husband helped raise the once shy and insecure girl. But Bradford blossomed into a confident young woman, she said.
Bradford was a cheerleader during her four years at Hanford West High School. She was also prom queen her senior year. And she sang during her graduation.
Lewis didn’t fully realize how many lives Bradford had touched until the day of her funeral service.
“The chapel only held 500 people and it was standing-room only, there were also people standing outside,” Lewis said. “Her life was so much bigger than her death.”
Bradford’s friend Amanda Cisneros was angry at Gonzales-Gay calling him a coward, weak and fake. She said she’s comforted by the many happy memories she has of her beloved friend, something Gonzales-Gay could not take away.
“I hate you James, I hate your name, I hate your face, I hate that you took my friend and I hate how you attempted to justify killing Breanna with a pathetic excuse,” she said. “Why did you really do it? Did it make you feel like a man when you put a gun to her face?”
Gonzales-Gay did not speak during the sentencing. His lawyer, Mark Siegel said he does not condone what his client did, but he also said Gonzales-Gay is a shell of his former self.
“He is stronger than what he has been given credit for,” Siegel said. “He sat through today stoically and has handled the last four years stoically.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 5:15 PM.
