Jury selection starts for trial of parolee accused of killing man after crash
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – More than a decade after he was arrested and charged, jury selection began today in the trial of a parolee accused of gunning down a man after the victim crashed into the defendant’s Porsche SUV in Indio.
James “Chip” Milton Nathaniel, 39, of Beaumont, allegedly killed 35- year-old Apolonio Carranza in 2015.
Nathaniel is charged with first-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, witness intimidation, spousal abuse and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Pretrial motions started last week, and Riverside County Superior Court Judge Otis Sterling summoned multiple panels of prospective jurors to the Larson Justice Center in Indio Monday for screening as to their availability and qualifications.
Opening statements are expected Thursday. Nathaniel is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center.
The People v. Nathaniel, which ranks among the county court system’s oldest unresolved murder cases, has been plagued by repeated delays, attributable to the defendant’s changes in counsel, ongoing requests for dismissals, hearings to access law enforcement officers’ confidential records and some of her matters not specified in court records going back to his arrest in May 2015.
The defendant was less than a year out of prison when the confrontation occurred with Carranza.
According to the Indio Police Department, the two men, along with multiple other people, had been visiting a house in the 43000 block of Kenya Drive in the predawn hours of April 19, 2015.
Witnesses later told police an argument erupted between Nathaniel and Carranza for reasons not altogether clear at the time.
According to a police arrest warrant declaration, one witness said Carranza challenged Nathaniel to race him for the “pink slips” to their respective SUVs, then he rammed Nathaniel’s Porsche.
The enraged defendant allegedly pulled a handgun and opened fire on the victim as he sat behind the wheel of his Nissan Murano, the affidavit said.
A dozen shots were fired at close range, killing Carranza on the spot, police alleged.
Nathaniel then allegedly got into his SUV and drove away. Witnesses called 911, and patrol officers arrived less than 10 minutes later.
The defendant’s identity was publicized four days after the shooting. He was taken into custody without incident in San Bernardino on May 21, 2015.
Nathaniel had been released from prison in the early spring of 2014 after completing a sentence stemming from a 2005 attack in which a motorist was shot in Indio, according to court records.
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