People v. Ness CA2/8

BACKGROUND

Ness moved in with Bonilla in October 2017. Their relationship soon deteriorated. Ness, who testified at trial, believed his girlfriend and Bonilla were having, and concealing from him, an affair. On a few occasions, Ness testified, Bonilla partied with women in his bedroom, keeping Ness awake at night. The hostility between Ness and Bonilla permeates their frequent text messages, as well as Ness’s texts to others, some of which contain veiled and not so veiled threats from Ness directed toward Bonilla. As will become relevant, Ness kept a revolver in his closet. He normally would not take his gun when leaving the house.

2 One afternoon, about four months after Ness moved in with Bonilla, Ness hosted Gustavo Rodgers, a neighbor from across the street, for a drink. A short while later, Bonilla came home and began cooking dinner on the stove nearby. Rodgers immediately felt tension between Bonilla and Ness, observing that although Bonilla greeted Rodgers, he said nothing to Ness. According to Rodgers, Ness and Bonilla exchanged dirty looks, and Ness angrily pounded the kitchen table where he sat a couple of times with a bottle of alcohol. Rodgers went home when his wife…