By Susana Jurado
FRESNO, CA. – A defendant here was accused late last week of strangling his partner for about an hour at his apartment and smashing her iPhone—the victim was forced to flee without shoes, according to the claims of the district attorney’s office in Fresno County Superior Court.
Joshua Lee Joy pleaded not guilty for felony domestic abuse, and asked to be released before his next court date so he wouldn’t “lose my apartment…lose everything.”
Judge Glenda Allen Hill declined to release him, and set bail at $40,000.
The court heard that the victim, after being strangled, was observed by officers to have red marks and scratches around her neck. She also stated to authorities that she did not pass out, but said she saw stars when he was strangling her.
A pretrial release report supported Joy not being released.
The prosecutor requested a protective order to keep the victim safe, which wasn’t objected to by Deputy Public Defender Brendan Bergh, who did note that the defendant was employed, he would comply to any conditions set before him, he has familial connections to the community of Fresno, and, as he put it, Joy has a “limited, nonviolent” criminal history.
“He has resided in the county of Fresno for 20 years. He does have family here including a mother, father, and sister. He does have a son that is not with the confidential victim, that’s with another 
individual where his son is currently staying,” argued Mr. Bergh,
“My client has a limited criminal history. Looks as though he has some misdemeanor convictions, pending in 2008. I know there is a charge pending for a weapons violation. That does not appear to be a violent offense on its face,” Bergh continued.
“My client does indicate he is working. He says he works for USA Fire, so I don’t know why it says unemployed on the pretrial report. My client does not live with the confidential witness. He would have a place to stay away from that person. If released he has no issue being placed on a GPS monitor. I would ask the court to consider pretrial release at this time,” he added.
With no objection from the District Attorney’s Office, Judge Hill ruled the protective order for the victim to be issued immediately, outlining the conditions to Joy throughout the hearing.
“You are not to harass, strike, threaten, assault, stalk, destroy, or damage the personal or real property of the victim. You can’t disturb her peace, keep her under surveillance, or block her movements.” said Judge Hill as she read Joy’s conditions of the order out loud.
After the order was issued, Judge Hill questioned DDA Reynolds on the matter of custody and pretrial release: “With regard to Mr. Joy’s custody status, would the People like to be heard?”
“Yes, just briefly, to pretrial release, we concur with probation’s assessment of a denial. I’ll note that this case has to do with numerous allegations of strangulation around a 1 hour period at the defendant’s apartment,” argued Reynolds, “She (the victim) indicated to law enforcement that at one point she did not lose consciousness but she saw stars during the point of strangulation. We would ask the court to deny this based on the seriousness of the underlying allegations.”
After the ruling took place, the defendant Joy spoke up in court saying, “I’m gonna lose my apartment. I’m gonna lose everything. It’s a mistake. This is a mistake.”
Public Defender Bergh jumped in, advising Joy, “Make no statements about this case, you may think you’re not saying anything incriminating, but at this time we are going to attempt to try to get you out of custody again next week. I’m advising you not to make any further statements. We have pleaded not guilty to the charge; we have denied all of the allegations.”
The defendant Joy sighed, “Ugggh.”
“Would you like to make a statement or are you done?” asked his public defender.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to say anymore.” said defendant Joy, completely defeated.
Until probation and the court have made efforts to try to contact the alleged victim once again, Judge Hill set the matter of determining pretrial release over to July 28, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. for a pre-preliminary hearing.
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He must of had a loose grip.