Chilling testimony starts Fresno man’s trial, accused of fatally stabbing ex-girlfriend
Jose Medina Gomez testified Tuesday the last words his sister said to him — as her ex-boyfriend, Victor Dominguez-Gomez, plunged a pink-colored kitchen knife into her abdomen — was “Little brother, he got me. “
Gomez was the first witness to testify Tuesday in Dominguez-Gomez’s murder trial.
He is facing 30-years-to-life in prison for the alleged stabbing death of 21-year-old Rocio Medina Gomez.
Dominguez-Gomez has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney said Tuesday the killing was accidental, after his client was attacked by the victim’s brother.
Prosecutor Deborah Miller described to the jury how the fractured relationship between Gomez and her 23-year-old boyfriend turned into chaos during the early morning hours of July 15, 2017.
Jose Medina Gomez testified he has known Dominguez-Gomez since he was 3 years old when they both grew up in Mexico. He considered him a friend. And when he started dating his sister several years ago everything seem fined.
But in reality it wasn’t, he said. Gomez told her brother that her boyfriend had hit her twice and one time tried to choke her.
After he confronted him, Dominguez-Gomez apologized to Gomez for mistreating his sister and vowed to do better. The couple eventually broke up.
Testimony about alleged killing
Two to three months later, the couple showed up on Gomez’s front door at about 5 a.m. Miller said Dominguez-Gomez held his ex-girlfriend closely as he announced to her brother that they had begun seeing each other again.
Although he was puzzled as to why they were there so early, he let them into the modest southwest Fresno home he shared with his wife.
The couple moved into the kitchen where Dominguez-Gomez had positioned himself with his back against a wall.
“They walked into the kitchen when I realized Victor had his arm around her body and he had a knife at her throat,” Gomez testified. “He then said ‘I told you I was going to kill you.’”
He then lowered his hand with the knife and stabbed her in the abdomen. She looks directly at him and said, “Little brother, he got me.” Gomez testified in a quiet voice.
Dominguez-Gomez stabbed her 10 times — three in the torso, six times in the upper right arm and once in the lower leg.
Gomez grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and heaved it at Dominguez-Gomez, who lunged at him with the knife before fleeing out the backdoor. The brother grabbed a floor lamp and chased after him, but the defendant got away, he testified.
Inside the home, Rocio Medina Gomez laid on the kitchen’s linoleum floor bleeding profusely. Her brother told his wife to call 911 as he grabbed his truck keys and tried to find Dominguez-Gomez.
A short time later, he returned and tried to help his sister. He squeezed her upper right arm, where a deep gash was spilling blood, according to the testimony.
Miller asked him if she said anything to him. He said no. “Her eyes were already closed,” he said.
Was the killing accidental?
Dominguez-Gomez’s public defender Phillip Billington said during his opening statement that his client did not intend to kill his ex-girlfriend. He alleged his client was attacked by Gomez and he tried to defend himself, but “she (Rocio Gomez) got in the way.”
“What we are left with is not a whodunit case but exactly what happened,” Billington said.
The trial continues Wednesday in Dept 60.
