By Alexander Ramirez
SACRAMENTO, CA – Three domestic violence cases similar in counts and victim statements popped up on Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Scott Tedmon’s very busy Wednesday schedule here.
Although each case had slightly different details, there appeared to be little difference in demeanor from the defendants, their charges—great bodily injury and corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant, and, barring one case, assault with deadly weapon—and even similar victim statements.
Yet bail was drastically different, ranging from $200,000 to $1 million to jail with no bail.
Gabriel Fresquez was the first of these three cases. He was being charged with four counts of felony assault with deadly weapon or firearm, threat to commit a crime resulting in great bodily injury, corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant, possession of firearm and violation of probation.
All underlying crimes were second strikes.
Per the victim statement, the defendant started punching the victim because the victim “antagonized” him. The victim was then thrown to the floor and with a gun in her face—the defendant said he was going to “shoot the victim in the head and blow her brains out,” and “murder the victim and everyone in the whole house.”
After more back and forth with the victim and witness in the house, the defendant had a two and a half hour standoff with officers outside of his house, during which the defendant said, “They would all go out in headshots,” before the defendant broke down into tears and said bye to his children and the victim. The defendant stepped out of the house.
This was all while on probation for another gun-related offense that included a gang shootout.
Bail was set to $1 million dollars for one count and $100,000 on another.
In Case No.2, Carl Fishel was also being charged on counts of corporal injury to spouse, threats to commit crime resulting in great bodily injury, and assault with deadly weapon.
One night, the defendant allegedly was intoxicated and started hitting the victim, before slashing at their stomach with a knife, cutting them. The victim fled but received the same treatment when they returned.
The defendant would also yell at the victim, pull their hair and slam their face into a door.
This incident reached its climax when the defendant pulled a gun on the victim and shot twice at them while the victim fled to a nearby park. More ammunition was found in the house by police and the gun was found in the glove box of the defendant’s car.
Other than this incident, the defendant was also alleged to have beaten the victim in other instances and has also threatened the victim with a gun previously. And he contacted victim’s mother and threaten to kill the victim if the mother did not come to pick them up. Because the defendant owned firearms, the mother believed him.
Fishel was kept in custody with no bail.
In Case No. 3, toward the end of the court schedule, Jason Calagno was being charged with counts of threat to commit crime resulting in great bodily injury and corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant—but this case includes a child endangerment charge.
Calagno threatened the victim with a knife while saying, “I’ll f****** kill you,” while holding the victim down and punching them in the face.
The defendant then grabbed a hammer and roamed through the house, claiming he was “going to destroy things,” which he eventually did.
While this was happening, the kids had a Zoom livestream for class that was on, and the victim told the teacher of the kid’s class to call the police, before ending their kids’ feed.
The defendant would end up throwing a knife toward the victim while the kids were nearby.
To the kids that were in danger he asked, “Want to see me kill your mom?” “Want to be motherless?”
Even after 13 prior bench warrants, the defendant’s bail was set at $200,000.
All three of these defendants were served no contact orders.
Alexander Ramirez is a third-year Political Science major at the University of California, Davis. He hopes to hone his writing skills in preparation for the inevitable time of graduation.
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