by Antoinnette Borbon
After finishing up testimony with gang expert Mark Harrison, the defense called defendant Billy Wolfington to the stand. Wolfington, along with co-defendant Shannon Silva, have been charged with the stabbing death of Bobby Brittenum, who was found at the Flamingo Motel in West Sacramento on the night of September 2, 2011.
Mr. Wolfington started out by telling a story which began from the time he was in his mother’s womb. He told the jurors that his mother did not want him but ended up having him only to give him up to another couple. I missed who they were. He stated the couple took him home to their home in the Broderick area. Mr. Wolfington stated both parents were heroin addicts, so he had been exposed to drugs his whole young life. At the age of 3, Mr. Wolfington first witnessed his father, who was not his biological father, get arrested for possession. Mr. Wolfington, choking up during testimony, talked about how it affected him.
Mr. Wolfington said the CPS had taken him from the home to live his younger years in and out of group homes, foster care and on the streets. Mr. Wolfington stated it was at the age of 12 when he began running with the gang members. He said his “God brother” sort of took care of him because he was a known gang member of the Broderick Boys.
He stated it was at about 15 years old when he and a friend went over to a house where four older known gang members jumped him. He said one of them stabbed him and it put him in the hospital. He never told authorities who these men were.
Digging deeper into the family dynamics, Deputy Public Defender Ron Johnson asked him about his mother – the one who raised him, not his biological mother. He told jurors she passed away. Johnson asked how he took the news. Mr. Wolfington, overcome with emotion, paused briefly before he could give an answer. He stated, “My dad went crazy after mom died and I never felt the same again.” He stated that after her death, he only felt love from people affiliated with gangs, people he called his cousins.
Mr. Wolfington talked about going to juvenile hall in Yolo County on several occasions, and later to a group home in Wheatland. California, where for a couple of years he did very well.
After he arrived back in the West Sacramento/Broderick area, he got in more trouble and was sent to a group home in Vacaville, California. He ran away several times while in this group home. Later, at around 16, Wolfington was sent to a place called the “Right of Passage,” a sort of boot camp, he stated.
After another attempt to live with his father, Mr. Wolfington said he began smoking crack. But he said it was only for a period of 8 months and he quit. He stated, however, that he was only clean from drugs for a period of six months or so.
At the age of 18, Mr. Wolfington was sent to prison. He told authorities at the prison he was a Northern Rider and was put in the most dangerous yard in prison, up at High Desert. But shortly after being there, he wanted out. He went to the prison authorities and told them he wanted to drop out of the gang status/membership. Mr. Wolfington stated he went through a long process where he signed documents and understood he would be moved. Prison authorities moved him to the protective custody area.
It was unclear if his debriefing was final, as Officer Labin Wilson, the gang expert, testified earlier that Mr. Wolfington had not really been officially debriefed, although Mr. Wolfington understood he was out.
While in prison, Mr. Wolfington had been in a few fights, but a weapon was never involved. Mr. Wolfington explained in detail how the gang members earn respect. He says when the higher-ups tell you to move on someone with full force, if you did not follow an order, you would be putting yourself at risk for being moved on or killed. Mr. Wolfington expressed he did not want to live like that anymore, the fear and all of the activities which go along with gang membership.
It was then three and a half years later and time for Mr. Wolfington’s release. Once he got out, he found a job helping a butcher who paid him cash. He then had a three-year-old daughter, too. Mr. Wolfington wanted to save up money to move out of his girlfriend’s parents’ house, so he asked his pastor if he could live in a room there at the church building while he worked and saved up. His request was granted, only to be told a few days later he and his family had to move out. It was then that his job took a nose dive. Mr. Wolfington decided to get high.
Mr. Wolfington stated he wanted to get into a treatment program. He said he and his girlfriend split up because she would not stop using and he wanted to so he could be a dad for his daughter. It left Mr. Wolfington homeless once again…
Mr. Wolfington then contacted his parole officer to get him into another program, but something happened. Mr. Wolfington said he lost the $500 down payment for the program through his church, also. Shortly after, however, the plan came through and Mr. Wolfington finally got accepted to the Cache Creek program. Mr. Wolfington only had a couple of days to wait.
So, Mr. Wolfington, homeless and carrying all his belongings in a duffel bag, headed to the Town House Motel, near the Flamingo Motel, to stay for the weekend. He said he was going to party it up one last time before the rehab.
It was there at the motel where he met up with a female friend. Mr. Wolfington stated he was just kicking back, shooting the breeze and got bored. It was there at the motel where Mr. Wolfington met Carlitha Gordon. He stated he and Silva began visiting with her and a few other friends in the room of another woman named “Kiki.”
Mr. Wolfington said, “Everything was fine, everyone was just chillin’,” but then Kiki got scared and wanted everyone to leave her room. Mr. Wolfington understood Kiki to have some mental health issues and wanted to help her get the people to leave. But Carlitha, her friend, asked everyone to leave first.
It was then that Bobby (the victim) said, “I ain’t leaving,” Then Mr. Wolfington asked him to leave. Bobby’s response was, “If I do leave, I am coming back, to pop you cracker,” talking to Mr. Wolfington. Mr. Wolfington took this as a threat and told him he was not going to leave the room talking like that…Before everyone knew it, Bobby threw a punch at Silva, the co-defendant. Silva, putting his arm up in defense of what was a knife coming at him, was stabbed in the right upper arm. “It all happened so fast…like, (snapping his fingers) like that….seconds.” Mr. Wolfington stated. Silva got out of the way.
Mr. Wolfington said he saw Bobby reach into his left pocket to grab the knife, holding it towards his side, waiting to use it.He stated he and Bobby began throwing punches at each other when he stuck his knife in the chest area of Bobby. Mr. Wolfington stated, “I backed up, thinking he would stop but he just kept coming at me with punches, so I kept stabbing him.”
Mr. Wolfington said he did not recall how many times, it was so fast. He stated Shannon Silva, his friend, stayed back. Finally, Mr. Wolfington said his last two stabs were to the head and to the neck. It was at this point when Bobby stopped coming at him. Mr. Wolfington stated, “I opened the door and he left, then me and Silva left the room, not going but a few blocks,” heading toward the nearby Flamingo Motel, where they were soon spotted.
Under cross-examination, Deputy DA Ryan Couzens asked Mr. Wolfington if he had wanted to kill Bobby, and he stated “No, he was just coming at me, just wanted to stop him, no, did not have an intention to kill him.”
Couzens then asked more questions pertaining to his past gang life. He showed Mr. Wolfington documents he had signed about admitting he was a gang member while in prison. But Mr. Wolfington stated he may have been up for three or four days when he signed those papers.
Mr. Couzens then went back to the night of the stabbing. He asked Mr. Wolfington about his defensive wounds. Mr. Wolfington said the small cuts on his wrist and hand were from stopping the blade of the knife Bobby was swinging at him. Mr. Couzens asked Mr. Wolfington to explain how Bobby would have received the stab to the back, but he did not have a clear answer.
Mr. Couzens asked if Mr. Wolfington had actually seen the knife Bobby had. Mr. Wolfington answered, yes, it was silver in color.
Mr. Couzens then brought up the drug abuse problem. Mr. Couzens asked Mr. Wolfington about how much meth he had smoked prior to the stabbing. He replied, “I don’t know the exact amount, just smoked ’til late in the night, early morning, I guess?” When asked the amount, Mr. Wolfington could not state specifically.
Mr. Wolfington testified that neither he nor Bobby talked about being in a gang. Mr. Wolfington stated it was only in the beginning of the day that Bobby asked who Mr. Wolfington was, and he stated, “I am from Broderick,” just the neighborhood where he grew up, he said. He said he never claimed to be a “Broderick Boy.”
Testimony was presumed to end Monday but will continue Tuesday, wrapping up the trial. Judge Mock is expected to be giving jury instructions by the afternoon.
What are Wolfington’s prior convictions and what offense sent him to prison?
Is the victim’s knife in evidence?
That was an interesting side debate but apparently it was never found and the Judge will not allow the defense to subpoena the investigator for the prosecution nor will he allow the defense to call the investigator as a witness. Unfortunately, I missed the first part of the arguments so I don’t know his reasoning for that.
Mr. Obvious: In answer to your question, apparently it was not said so today the jury asked the same question as you. He was first arrested for possession of meth. He received a suspended sentence. Then after he was released from custody, he was caught with a loaded fire arm and was convicted of felon with a loaded weapon, a violation of probation and I think an gang enhancement which got him his four year sentence at high desert.
Ok I’m sorry. But it’s kind of hard to read that he ‘got choked up’ on the stand, when he was right along with the prosecution, defense, etc. laughing at jokes people were making during jury selection (which actually kind of offended me, not the defendant’s laughing so much as the non-criminally charged folks. a guy died here).
This guy seems to lack empathy for the dead man. And there are quite a few folks out there who had a caregiver who did drugs. This guy is all over the map. He’s a sad case becasue of his childhood, and therefore should be given sympathy, he wanted out of the gang because he didn’t like the violence, yet he puts himself in a situation where he makes a choice to stab someone over and over.
I don’t know if he’s in a gang or not, and I don’t know gang enhancement laws, and so far I haven’t seen evidence (written here) that demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Wolfington was acting on behalf of a gang (even if he’s in one, this murder doesn’t seem to be an official ‘gang’ act).
having said that, he did commit murder (in my opinion), and get onto the stand and shed tears for himself, but not, apparently, for the victim. he doesn’t by this account appear to show remorse for his poor choices, but instead brings up his past and his drug use to seem to sidestep responsibility.
i think if you commit murder while you’re high, you should get the same sentence that you might if you were and had always been stone cold sober. those were choices you made. why do people even use that excuse?
Igee, I agree on the gang points. …and yes, there seems to be no remorse for the killing as of yet? But then, I am inclined to believe after today that Wolfington may have some deeper mental health issues? Also bearing in mind we have no idea what he has shown to his defense in private either. He seemed to be smiling when he should have been crying, to me? But again, I cannot speak for what is inside the mind of another. I know on the stand he shed some tears as well as earlier when watching himself in the video..it was interesting how he did not cry until he heard himself talk of his daughter and not wanting to go back to prison. But when looking at the pictures of the body, he showed no emotion…strange? It could be the hardening of the heart over things..unclear and I am not a doctor. I just know often times when you stay in that kind of life, you become hard and it may take a whole lot more to change the mindset/heart and feel true conviction. I know the victim was a human being too and deserves justice, pretty sure he will get it…Just so sad to see one’s life come to this over one last temptation…for all of them involved. Too, under the influence or not, it is still a crime..no excuses.
@Mr. Toad…interestingly enough, neither weapon was found? But in the area where the two defendants ran to, there are a lot of hiding places so it is reasonable to say both knifes were taken from the scene and hid out there. It would seem likely there had to be another knife because the wound on Silva was 5 inches deep and appeared to be a defensive wound; not likely it was by accident Silva was stabbed or it would have been more of a slash type? I believe the prosecution has won this one…but the jurors may have other thoughts after viewing all the evidence. I disagree with it being gang related though…Drugs/alcohol and rage are enough of a mixture to follow thru on a crime such as this one or any crime for that matter.
That Mr. Wolfington (or anyone really who could stab someone to death) has deeper mental health issues is believable. But what are ‘deeper mental health issues’? This guy knows right from wrong. It’s not uncommon for most people, killers or not, to feel more sorry for themselves than they do for those they wrong. And it’s not uncommon for most people to try and rationalize that they had good reason to do whatever it was they did. Whether it’s being wrong in an argument with your spouse, or pulling out in front of someone in traffic.
If Mr. Wolfington expects us to believe that he is somehow less culpable than a middle class person with a perfect childhood, because of his upbringing, then all the more reason the public should be protected from him.
I don’t see evidence that he is incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong, or evidence of a delusional thought pattern that would make him incapable of normal decisions, e.g. the voices made him kill. I do see, written here anyway, evidence that here sits a guy who murdered someone, and instead of telling you how much he regrets it, instead of showing true horror, ‘oh my god he was dead, and then i tried to revive him, because i just couldn’t believe he was dead, and then we called paramedics because we knew he needed help…’
that sort of reasoning, instead, he tells us about his sad sad childhood, and how he was defending himself that night. not ‘why did i even go to that stupid party? if only i hadn’t done it, the victim would be alive…’
i’m sorry Mr. Wolfington was raised by addicts, it does sound sad. and no one deserves that kind of upbringing. but it has no bearing on his knowing right from wrong.