B
y Eric J. Trochez
SACRAMENTO – What at first appeared to be a generous offer from her ex-boyfriend turned out to be a horrific car ride that ultimately ended with a woman’s beating, according to a peace officer here last week in Sacramento County Superior Court.
Judge Helena Gweon presided in the court, with Deputy District Attorney Scott Schweibish and Assistant Public Defender Steven Sirsch representing defendant Kevin Gary McCullough, who was in court but not in custody. The defendant is charged with causing corporal injury to spouse/cohabitant.
The evidence presented at the preliminary hearing suggested that the defendant offered his ex-girlfriend a ride after he saw her at a bus stop, and she accepted. However, McCullough, when the victim tried to get out of the car, allegedly struck her in the face multiple times, causing a significant laceration.
Schweibish kicked things off by calling Sacramento Sheriff Deputy Nicholas Manitta, who recalls receiving a call from a male subject, the son of the victim, reporting that he was on the phone with his mother while the incident took place and allegedly heard a physical altercation.
Manitta responded to the call, and observed a facial injury, a laceration of approximately one inch on her right eye, and dried blood on her face and chest.
Deputy Manitta reported the victim stated that McCullough was the cause of the injury. When asked for a picture of the person who injured her, she showed a picture of McCullough, and said the two had “dated on and off for six years, and had been separated for a few weeks prior to our contact.”
Schweibish followed up by asking Manitta to describe how the incident unfolded, based on the victim’s report. The deputy responded that a woman was waiting for her friend at a bus stop. While waiting, her ex-boyfriend, the defendant, noticed her and asked what she was doing. She let him know that she was waiting for her friend to give her a ride to her son’s place so that she could pick up her dog. In response, McCullough offered a ride. She accepted and got into the car.
McCullough kept driving to random places, but seemingly never toward her son’s residence. She soon discovered that this ride was not what it seemed. She began feeling nervous and started panicking. She asked to be returned to where she was waiting. McCullough agreed and brought her back. However, he did not do so peacefully, according to the victim’s story as told to the deputy.
When she attempted to exit the car, she related to the deputy, McCullough grabbed her hair and pulled her back in. He then struck her approximately four times in the face.
“Nervous and frightened,” described Manitta, of the victim when the deputy arrived.
Defense attorney Sirsch suggested to the deputy, “Whatever had happened had already happened before you arrived… And it sounds like she had already left wherever the alleged battery occurred and returned to her apartment right?” Manitta confirmed this.
Sirsch established that the defendant was not at the scene when the deputy arrived, and that the incident did not happen at the victim’s apartment.
Sirsch followed up by asking how the deputy responded to the laceration on the victim’s face. Manitta stated he called for an ambulance, but the victim refused and decided to take herself to the hospital.
Sirsch then asked if the victim’s testimony was reported in any way other than the police report. Deputy Manitta said the only evidence of the conversation was the police report, his notes which have already been disposed of, and his own recollection.
Judge Gweon found that there is sufficient cause that the defendant can be found guilty, and set a Trial Readiness Conference for Jan. 21, 2021, at 1:35 p.m. in Dept. 60. Trial is set for Jan. 25, 2021.
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