Defense calls witnesses in Iraq war veteran's manslaughter trial
About an hour before he was fatally shot, Cesar Valdez grabbed the barrel of Christopher Sullivan's pistol and pulled it within inches of his face.
"I trust you, bro," Valdez told Sullivan, according to a friend who recalled the incident in testimony Wednesday in West Valley Superior Court.
The friend, Michael Ball, was the first witness called to testify by Sullivan's defense attorney.
Sullivan, a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran, faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter and a related gun charge for the April 9, 2006 death of Valdez, 24.
Ball's testimony about Valdez yanking Sullivan's gun toward his face at an Ontario house party is a key element of Sullivan's defense.
Sullivan's attorney, David Goldstein, told jurors in his opening statement that Sullivan's pistol discharged in Valdez's mouth because Valdez grabbed the weapon, causing it to fire.
Prosecutors allege Sullivan pulled the trigger.
The only other witness Goldstein called to testify Wednesday was Harry James Bonnell, a forensic pathologist hired by the defense.
Bonnell testified that Valdez's wounds are consistent with injuries typically seen in suicides.
"It's consistent with (the weapon) being placed there by the victim," he said.
Intra-oral gunshot wounds -- when a gun is placed inside a person's mouth, then fired -- are generally considered by forensic pathologists to be "self-inflicted until proven otherwise," Bonnell said.
He said he can't say with certainty whether Valdez's gunshot wound was self-inflicted because he wasn't present during the shooting.
During cross examination, Deputy District Attorney Tom Colclough asked Bonnell whether he was familiar with instances where military prison guards in Iraq -- that was Sullivan's job in the Marines -- put guns in prisoners' mouths to intimidate them.
Bonnell said he was familiar with Marines being prosecuted for putting their pistols in suspected terrorists' mouths during interrogations.
Sullivan, Valdez and a group of their friends went out drinking the night of April 8, 2006 to celebrate Sullivan and another man's return home from Iraq that week.
Valdez and his girlfriend dropped Sullivan off at his home in Upland the following morning.
Valdez and Sullivan -- both intoxicated -- spoke to each other in Sullivan's front yard for about 15 minutes.
Valdez's girlfriend, Heather Montoya, said she was sitting in her truck waiting for the men to say goodbye.
Montoya testified that she saw Sullivan raise his holstered pistol and aim it at Valdez's face, then moments later heard a gunshot.
Sullivan told detectives the shooting was accidental. He said Valdez grabbed his gun or arm before the weapon fired.
Defense testimony in Sullivan's case is set to continue Tuesday.
The attorneys told Judge Raymond Haight at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing that closing arguments could be heard on Thursday next week.
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