Alleged Assault Victim Rages on Stand after Defense Attorney Questions His Past

From Roxanna Jarvis

WOODLAND – The witness stand here in front of the Yolo County Supreme Court may have gone a little crazy late last week when assistant defense attorney Daniel Hutchinson questioned the alleged victim of an attack.

“You are not a violent man, sir, are you? Are you a peaceful man? “asked PD Hutchinson of the victim who shot back:

“Oh yes! How about it, Paul? Everything I’ve done for you? You don’t call that nice? You don’t call that nice?” Address to the defendant Paul Carrillo. “All I’ve done for you, brother, and you want to attack me while I sleep, and now I’m in trouble for that? Yeah i’m upset. “

Judge David Rosenberg ordered the man to stop and asked DPD Hutchinson to “complete” his questioning of the alleged victim.

The preliminary hearing for Carrillo, who was charged with two offenses (threat of death or aggravated crime, GBI, and assault and violence likely to cause GBI) lasted much longer than the hour predicted.

This, plus the addition of an angry alleged victim, dragged on an already long Friday.

Already upset by the incident that resulted in his being on trial, Hutchinson asked Hutchinson about the alleged victim’s past and credibility.

In the early afternoon of December 4, 2020, the defendant, the alleged victim, and their mutual friend “J” had watched TV and drank alcohol for some time before the defendant left around 4pm to hang out with another friend.

Hutchinson asked the alleged victim if he and J continued drinking after Carrillo left, and also asked what he had been drinking.

He replied, “Yes sir. I’ve been off duty, we’ve been to his house, there’s nothing illegal about that … I like to have a fireball … beer, whatever. In my time, I drink what I want to drink. It doesn’t give anyone the right … “

Judge Rosenberg then interrupted the man. “Please don’t argue or get upset. It’s best to just answer the question. “

Hutchinson went on to ask the man if he remembered when he slept and how many drinks he had.

“I don’t know. I didn’t keep track,” replied the alleged victim. This happened three more times as Hutchinson rephrased his question and tried to get an estimate – each time the victim’s answer got louder and more excited .

When asked if he was drunk at bedtime, the victim snapped. “What a King – Oh my goodness! What do you mean that i was drunk? I slept! I slept sir. “

Since the alleged victim was not sober enough to drive, they decided to spend the night at J’s house and was sleeping when the alleged incident occurred. While both J and the victim slept and shared J’s bed, the defendant reportedly knocked on J’s door around 12:30 p.m. on December 5th.

After J told Carrillo they were sleeping, he left. But seconds later, Carrillo knocked again, telling J and the alleged victim that he believed he left his phone inside.

J then went into the kitchen, not knowing what was going on in the other room between Carrillo and the alleged victim.

“I thought he would come in to hug me … and thank me for all the things I did for him, but it wasn’t,” the alleged victim told the court. When the victim slept in J’s bed, Carrillo jumped onto his back and allegedly dug his knee just below the victim’s neck.

“And he started digging his fingernails into the sides of my face,” the alleged victim continued, who said that in a position with the victim lying on his stomach, it was difficult to get Carrillo off him. The alleged victim overheard the defendant repeatedly ask him, “Aren’t you talking about me?”

“When I tried to pull myself off the bed for a full minute, I ran out of air. I couldn’t breathe. I was running out of air. “The victim also said he tried to tell Carrillo that he couldn’t breathe.

“I struggled to get it from me, but it didn’t work. It felt like my body was sinking in the mud every time I tried, ”he testified. It wasn’t until J heard the commotion that Carrillo was able to separate the two men.

From his kitchen I could hear Carrillo say, “Now what, mother?” to the alleged victim linked to the victim who shouted “I cannot breathe” a few times.

“When I saw Mr. Carrillo upstairs [the victim]With his knee back, I had to forcibly pull Mr. Carrillo away [him]… I had to grab him by his jacket and take off, “said J.

“It’s a good thing [J] pulled him off me, ”commented the alleged victim during his testimony.

Thereafter, both J and the alleged victim stated that the alleged victim leaned on J’s dresser for 15 to 20 seconds to catch his breath before going over to Carrillo and slapping him in the face.

“I went over and gave Paul a free botox for the house,” explained the alleged victim. “I’ll get this if I help this guy, man. Yeah, I blew it right into his mouth. I had every right to do so. “

What differed between the two statements was whether Carrillo approached the alleged victim after he “pounced” on him. J claimed Carrillo did not approach the victim or tell him anything before he was beaten. The alleged victim said otherwise.

“He started walking towards me like he was doing something… He was walking towards me as I was walking towards him. He was still on the aggressive side … he looked belligerent – stupid, “said the alleged victim, who also claimed that the accused was under the influence because of his” bloodshot red eyes “and his alcoholic aroma.

After being slapped in the face, Carrillo picked up the phone to dial 911. According to the victim, Carrillo said to him, “You are dead, man” while calling 911.

Because Carrillo allegedly dug his fingernails into the victim’s face, the victim now has scars. Carrillo, on the other hand, suffered a broken nose from the victim’s alleged blow.

According to Assistant District Attorney Preston Schaub, Carrillo has a history of DUI charges of alcohol and “a series of domestic violence arrests in 2006, 2009 and 2014”. Schaub added that in 2019 Carrillo was convicted of a felony of assault that would likely provoke GBI.

While Carrillo has made domestic violence charges in the past, so do the alleged victim. Hutchinson questioned the victim while testifying about his previous charges and the victim said, “Yes, many years ago in 2009. I defended myself.”

When asked about his incidents in 2006 and 2007, the victim said he did not remember. “I got that out of my head,” he said

On the “at least three” occasions Hutchinson said the alleged victim “used force against people and where police arrested” [him]The victim claimed he was “on the defense”.

Regarding the December 2020 incident with Carrillo, the alleged victim told Hutchinson, “This is the first time I’ve slapped him in the face. He attacked me and I had to defend myself three times – this would be the third time. “

When Hutchinson continued to question the victim, he mistakenly labeled all three Carrillo hits as the victim’s “blow”, angering the alleged victim.

“Why do you care?” asked the victim. “This is stupid.”

When Judge Rosenberg said that his answers “did not help,” the victim replied, “Well, this … person does not invent anything either.”

Hutchinson then asked, “Sir, do you have a quick temper? Do you get angry easily? “

“I can, if you come up with something or try to make me look like the bad guy here,” replied the alleged victim. When asked if he gets angrier while drunk, the victim denied it, adding, “If you do nothing, there is nothing.”

In his argument in front of the court, DPD Hutchinson argued that the alleged victim had a motive to lie in his testimony because he had inflicted “serious bodily harm” on the defendant Carrillo.

“The court saw his temper and the man has explosive anger problems. This was in response to a lawyer who asked questions when he was supposedly sober. You can imagine how he might have reacted when he’s drunk with his friend lying on his back in bed, ”argued Hutchinson.

He also included that “it was clear” that J was showing signs of intoxication while giving his testimony such as “close his eyes”, [not] Follow simple instructions and [not being able] to find out how to use the phone. “

During Prosecutor Schaub’s arguments, he believed that Carrillo should not be held responsible for the death penalty or GBI charges, but instead claimed that “the knee is choking in the neck and causing shortness of breath” on the violent assault charge likely causing GBI.

Hutchinson included his argument that he doesn’t believe Carrillo put his knee on the alleged victim’s neck. He stated that even if this action had been accepted, Carrillo’s actions would not have resulted in either GBI or death, compared to the death of George Floyd.

“This is not a man who lies on asphalt with one knee to his neck for 10 minutes. This is a man who is on a bed on a bed with another man and it was probably on his neck for a few seconds, even if you would accept that. This is not an act that can lead to death or serious personal injury. “

In his ruling, Judge Rosenberg agreed not to blame Carrillo for the first threat of committing an act that resulted in death or GBI.

Rosenberg admitted that there was enough evidence to hold Carrillo accountable but used his discretion to reduce the charge to a misconduct.

“The evidence shows some kind of weak attack from behind. There is evidence of a narrowing of the breath. I’ll say the victim’s credibility is being questioned in this case, but based on the evidence, the offense is all he has to answer. “

Carrillo will be tried on that single charge.

Roxanna Jarvis is a fourth year student at UC Berkeley and is currently studying Political Science with a minor in Public Policy. She is from Sacramento, California.

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