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orange county register
Black man gets 28 years to life for killing White man who hurled racial slurs and had a bat
By SEAN EMERY | [email protected] | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: September 15, 2023 at 2:32 p.m. | UPDATED: September 15, 2023 at 3:57 p.m.
A Black man who shot and killed a White man who was yelling racial slurs at him while holding a baseball bat at a Westminster motel was sentenced Friday to 28 years to life in prison.
A jury earlier this year convicted Jonathan Breon Dunlap, 35, of voluntary manslaughter and discharging a firearm into an inhabited building causing death for the Dec. 2, 2017 slaying of 37-year-old John Nondorf at a Motel 6 in the 13100 block of Goldenwest Street.
That Dunlap — who had arrived at the motel with friends from a party — shot Nondorf — who was staying at the motel with his fiancée — in the face following a heated argument and confrontation was not disputed during his trial. The question for jurors was whether Nondorf was retreating into his motel room when Dunlap shot him, as alleged by Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera, or whether he acted in self-defense after Dunlap allegedly charged at him with a bat, as defense attorney Cameron Talley countered.
The confrontation apparently began when Nondorf ordered Dunlap to get away from his SUV, after Dunlap may have accidentally bumped it while walking past it.
One woman described Dunlap responding by saying “My bad,” while Nondorf’s fiancee claimed Dunlap instead told Nondorf “(expletive) your car!” Both agreed that Nondorf used multiple racial slurs during the ensuing argument.
Nondorf briefly retreated into his motel room, where he grabbed a child’s-size baseball bat and returned outside. A friend of Dunlap’s grabbed a gun out of the backseat of her car, according to testimony, and either handed it to Dunlap or he grabbed it.
In the moments leading up to the shooting, Dunlap and his friends were grouped together just outside the door to Nondorf’s motel room, while Nondorf was just inside the room, outside the view of security cameras. The prosecution argued that Dunlap punched Nondorf in the face before shooting him, while the defense said Nondorf rushed at Dunlap while brandishing the bat.
Prior to his sentencing, Dunlap told Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger that he had not gone to the motel with the intent to kill anyone.
“I do apologize for my actions,” Dunlap said. “I wish I could have had a clearer mind and prevented the situation.”
Talley, Dunlap’s attorney, told the judge it was Nondorf who started the argument and then introduced potential deadly force by grabbing a bat.
“Mr. Dunlap was minding his own business, the provocation came to him,” Talley said. “He made the mistake of putting his Black hand on a bigot’s car.”
Judge Menninger acknowledged that Nondorf used racial epithets and introduced the baseball bat into the confrontation, but also noted that Dunlap could have walked away or used his fists instead of a gun.
“Bad things are said all the time to us,” the judge told Dunlap. “But we don’t get to act on them with violence.”
another savage gets what he deserves. usually blacks get away with stuff like this.
