By Roxanna Jarvis
FRESNO – A peaceful night turned to one with broken glass and flashing lights after a Fresno man’s ex-girlfriend and now defendant, Chasity Lamattina, allegedly threw a flower vase at him, causing lacerations to his face and leg, as well as damage to his car. She now is called to answer here in Fresno County Superior Court.
The charges against her are all felonies: assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, and vandalism.
Both ex’s were in the courtroom during the preliminary hearing, while Judge Francine Zepeda, Deputy District Attorney Nicole Idiart, and Deputy Public Defender Annie Freitas all participated 
remotely via Zoom.
It was an unusual circumstance, as the alleged victim was relocated to the counsel table to testify after the witness stand’s camera and microphone failed. Lamattina was moved to the public seating behind the victim to accommodate.
From the counsel table, Lamattina’s ex-boyfriend recollected the events of May 21, noting that at about 10:50 p.m., the victim and his current girlfriend were parked in front of her house and chatting about their day. The couple had just arrived back in Fresno after a day in Bakersfield, and the victim was dropping her at her home.
About a minute into their conversation, a grey car drove up to the side of the victim’s 2015 Ford Mustang.
“That’s a pretty cool car for someone your age, do you keep it up pretty well?” asked DDA Idiart.
The victim laughed, “Definitely.”
Both the victim and his girlfriend attempted to figure out who was inside the grey car, until it pulled up close enough to where the victim could catch a glimpse, approximately five to six feet away. “I can see the hair, just the side of the face, and [saw] the person I pointed to earlier (Lamattina) get out of the car,” explained the victim.
After exiting the grey car from the passenger’s side, Lamattina allegedly said, “You like to make your presence known,” and threw a vase at the victim’s Mustang. The victim (in the driver’s seat) had his window rolled down and shards of the broken glass flew inside the car.
“It went from one window to the other side of the car, and was still able to cut me,” said the victim. While unsure where the vase hit exactly, he guessed that it hit the brim of his window. “I guess it hit right there and shattered, and the rest of the vase went inside the car.”
The glass was able to reach both the victim and his girlfriend in the car. “Basically, it just shattered all over my body,” explained the victim. The victim received cuts on both his left cheekbone and his left shin. While the laceration on his shin left a scar, the one on his face….the victim wasn’t so sure about:
“[There was] just a tiny bit [of blood on my cheekbone]…I think it was a pimple or something. It’s kinda hard to tell. My face—it’s got a lot of pimples.”
“You can’t tell from Zoom, you look great,” complimented Idiart.
After getting hit with the glass, the victim drove away and his girlfriend called the police. In response to why he left the scene, the victim stated it was because Lamattina was “reaching for something else to throw. The way she reached back, it was like she was looking for something inside the car,” the victim further explained.
“I was scared for my life,” he said.
Overall, the damage to the Mustang cost a total of $3,500 in repairs. Although he never saw the vase in Lamattina’s hands, the victim was able to identify it off of its pieces and the green foam inside of it.
“Prior to our relationship, and the way the glass was built, we had a vase prior to that…I recognized the vase,” said, noting the vase as rectangular, which had a very thick bottom and became narrow toward the top.
The victim and Lamattina had been in a relationship for approximately two years and have a child together.
DDA Idiart requested that Lamattina answer for her charges, while DPD Freitas asked the court to consider Penal Code section 17(b), which would reduce Lamattina’s charges from felonies to misdemeanors.
Judge Zepeda ultimately decided to have Lamattina answer for the charges against her.
“The fact that she used something that was glass and a weapon—had it just been some rubber ball or something it might be different, but the fact she used something that caused injury and lacerations, I’m not going to 17(b) it this time. I’ll hold her to answer on all three counts.”
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