He’s on trial for possible murder of his ex. A judge found him guilty of a separate crime

A Sanger man currently on trial for suspected murder was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison Monday for assaulting a mail carrier in 2017.

James Gonzales-Gay, 35, was arrested last September on the same day his ex-girlfriend went missing. Breanna Bradford was found dead of gunshots two days after his arrest in a car near Ventura and Ninth.

Gonzales-Gay pleaded not guilty to the murder charge in Fresno County Superior Court, but a Fresno police arrest record states that he told officers he “was responsible for taking her life.”

The sentencing announced Monday states that U.S. Judge Lawrence O’Neill ordered Gonzales-Gay to prison for the separate assault charges after he elbowed a mail carrier and drove away with the mail truck.

Police arrested Gonzales-Gay when they found him carrying a Taurus handgun, according to a news release.

Gonzales-Gay reportedly jumped onto the bumper of a mail delivery truck and pulled the mail carrier out. He then began to drive away. The mail carrier was able to catch up to the truck and disable it before he was elbowed in the face by Gonzales-Gay, according to the news release. The carrier then took away the keys and was eventually able to escape. The incident happened during a mail delivery route in the area of Maple and Huntington avenues in southeast Fresno.

According to criminal complaints, Gonzales-Gay has five felony convictions from 2006 for assault with a deadly weapon. And if convicted of the murder charge, Gonzales-Gay would face life in prison.

This story was originally published February 5, 2018 at 7:23 PM with the headline "He’s on trial for possible murder of his ex. A judge found him guilty of a separate crime."