Real estate agent Ronald Fletcher was to resume his testimony March 5 in the attempted murder trial of his former brother-in-law, charged with shooting him and another man in La Jolla in 2013.
Fletcher was the sixth witness called March 4 as the trial opened for Hans Antone Petersen, of University City, accused of shooting Fletcher and Steven Dowdy, a former neighbor, on Sept. 18, 2013.
Fletcher, 51, who sells real estate in La Jolla, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, was called late in the day regarding the shooting, which left him seriously wounded in the stomach. He is expected to testify most of March 5.
A six-man, six-woman jury was sworn in March 3 and attorneys gave opening statements March 4 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Leo Valentine Jr. Deputy District Attorney Amy Maund described Petersen, 51, as an angry man “who wanted revenge” and went on “a murder mission.” She showed jurors a 45-caliber semi-automatic firearm recovered after Fletcher was shot.
She also displayed a rock Petersen allegedly used to break into Fletcher’s home on Cottontail Lane.
Maund said Petersen shot Dowdy around 3 a.m. and blamed him for his termination as a biotech CEO in 2010 in a company that Dowdy founded. Dowdy, 54, is a professor at UCSD School of Medicine.
Petersen’s attorney, Marc Carlos, told jurors he did not contest the basic facts of the case and conceded that Petersen shot both men. However, he said a 1987 skydiving accident caused a brain injury to Petersen and that his medications affected his actions.
“The issue is what is his state of mind,” said Carlos.
Carlos said Petersen developed a seizure disorder in his brain and the affects of the accident plus certain medications affected his thinking. “These are serious questions that need to be answered,” said Carlos.
Petersen is charged with attempting to kill Fletcher, Dowdy and Dowdy’s wife Lisa on the same night. He is also accused of shooting at an inhabited structure, a burglary of Fletcher’s home and the display of a firearm in a threatening manner to Mike Nielsen on Ravenswood Road in La Jolla.
Lisa Dowdy, the first witness, described Petersen’s allegedly hostile behavior and that her husband banned him from their property in 2009.
Steven Dowdy testified he heard a backyard gate open and footsteps approaching outside his bedroom in the 2013 incident. He said the home’s glass doors “exploded” with the first gunshot and that he was shot in the torso when he stood up. His wife was not injured.
Steven Dowdy said he then lost consciousness and recalled medics taking him out in a stretcher. He was hospitalized for six days.
Petersen remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $5 million bail and has pleaded not guilty. He has no prior record. If convicted of three counts of premeditated attempted murder, he faces three life terms in prison plus consecutive 20-year terms for using a gun in a violent crime.
–Neal Putnam