Judge’s son accused of murder in Turlock says everyone has right to security at home

Kevin William Mayhew says he couldn’t have known that someone would break-into his Turlock home on the afternoon of Oct. 31, 2016. He argued in court Friday that he didn’t know the intruder he shot.

“The expectation of security in my own locked house is a right we all have,” Mayhew told a Stanislaus Superior Court judge.

Mayhew, 42, is charged with murder in the shooting of Juy Anthony Gastelo, 30, who was found with six gunshot wounds in Mayhew’s back yard. Three of the gunshots were in Gastelo’s back. He died from blood loss..

Deputy District Attorney Michael Houston says Mayhew was hiding behind a box as he sat on a living room couch in his home. He said Mayhew was armed with a handgun and two knives, waiting to kill anyone who entered his home.

“He’s sitting here, waiting for anybody,” the prosecutor said in court while pointing to a photo of Mayhew’s cluttered living room. “Unfortunately for Juy Gastelo, it happened to be him.”

Judge Robert Westbrook has to decide whether there’s enough evidence for Mayhew to stand trial on the charges the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office filed against him. The judge on Tuesday will issue his ruling in Mayhew’s preliminary hearing.

Mayhew — the son of retired Stanislaus County Judge William Mayhew — has chosen to act as his own attorney in the preliminary hearing. Defense Attorney John Hillenbrand has assisted Mayhew in court, including helping the defendant with his arguments before the court.

The case against Mayhew also includes accusations that he tried to kill three law enforcement officials, when a 44-mile police chase ended in Merced County. The chase began in Turlock as authorities investigating Gastelo’s death searched Mayhew’s home.

The deadly shooting occurred at Mayhew’s home on North Thor Street in Turlock. Mayhew told investigators he had been living at his parents’ home, about two miles away, and using the Thor Street home as storage space.

Crime scene photos show a large amount of items strewn about the home. The prosecutor argued that the inside of the home was “huge mess,” except for Mayhew’s spot on the couch on the afternoon of the shooting.

“This was not his home,” Houston told the judge. “He’s not living there. He uses it as storage space.”

Mayhew told investigators that he was asleep and awoke to a noise from a kitchen window at the back of the house. He then saw Gastelo holding a knife and standing several feet from him. Mayhew told investigators he fired two shots at Gastelo. The defendant said he followed Gastelo, who was retreating, as he fired a few other shots at the man.

Mayhew showed investigators the path Gastelo took out of the house. The prosecutor told the judge that path was the only other portion of the house that was clear of debris.

Staged evidence?

Turlock Police Detective Jason Tosta has testified that he believed a knife found in the kitchen was placed there by someone who wanted to manipulate or alter the crime scene.

“To be honest, to me it appeared staged,” Tosta said on the witness stand Thursday. “It looked like (the knife) just landed perfectly on top of the CD case. That it was placed there, because he wanted law enforcement to find it.”

An analysis of the knife found DNA traces on its handle matching Mayhew. Tosta testified that no DNA traces matching Gastelo was found on the knife.

Whether the Thor Street house is considered Mayhew’s home under the law is an important factor, Westbrook told Houston. The judge said this was still a house that belonged to Mayhew. Westbrook asked shouldn’t an intruder expect that there could be someone in a house waiting with a gun for any intruder?

The prosecutor told the judge that Mayhew was “pissed” someone burglarized his home a few days before the deadly shooting. Houston argued that Mayhew remotely erased data on his cell phone, because he didn’t want law enforcement to see he wrote text messages, telling others that he was going to kill any intruders he found in his house.

“So, this is his state of mind. This is his intent,” Houston said in court.

Mayhew also is facing felony charges of insurance fraud for falsely reporting firearms were stolen from his home. He filed insurance claims for the guns for policies he had with the National Rifle Association and State Farm Insurance.

On Oct. 25, 2016, Mayhew reported his Thor Street home had been burglarized of items including 15 rifles, three handguns and a shotgun. None of the guns had actually been stolen; all were recovered, most of them from his vehicle following the shootout in Merced County, according to a filed arrest affidavit.

In response to the reported Oct. 25, 2016, burglary Mayhew said on Facebook “Now, I have to hunt them down and eliminate the bastards or bastards,” according to Tosta.

Merced County shootout

Along with the other charges, Mayhew faces three counts of attempted murder and evading police in connection with the March 2017 police pursuit. That chase lasted just over an hour before it ended in Merced County.

Mayhew is accused of shooting at two Merced County sheriff’s deputies and nearly running over a Merced police officer.

The police officer was deploying spike strips to disable Mayhew’s car, a brown 2002 Lincoln sedan. The spike strips stopped the chase on Snelling Road.

The deputies Mayhew fired his gun at testified Friday. Deputy Derek Bethel was new to his department and paired with a field training officer, Deputy Jesus Meraz, on the night they joined authorities chasing Mayhew. The deputies were riding together in a sheriff’s patrol vehicle.

Bethel testified that he saw what appeared to be an AR-15 assault rifle come of Mayhew’s car. Bethel, who had been driving the sheriff’s patrol vehicle, was standing behind the opened driver’s door when he saw the file sweep up. Then, he heard shots fired from Mayhew’s car.

Bethel returned fired. He said on the witness stand that he feared for his safety, because “The suspect’s shooting at me.”

The sheriff’s vehicle was hit by three bullets, one went through the patrol vehicle’s hood and another hit the lower front bumper.

Another bullet went through the windshield and into the driver’s seat headrest. The deputies testified that Mayhew was about 20 feet away when he fired the rifle at them.

Meraz testified that he saw the rifle’s barrel aim out of the brown car, then shots were fired in his direction. Meraz then returned fire. He said he was afraid for himself and his trainee, Bethel. He remembered the bullet hitting the windshield.

“When that happened, a piece of glass hit my face,” Meraz said. “I thought I had been shot.”

During cross examination by Mayhew, Bethel said it was dark that night, but he could see Mayhew’s car clearly. Several vehicle headlights were aimed at Mayhew’s car.

Six law enforcement officials returned fire. After Mayhew was struck by gunfire, he threw the rifle out of the car and raised his hands to surrender. Bethel said he was still afraid, even after Mayhew dropped his gun and one of the other law enforcement officials called for a ceasefire.

“A few seconds went by, you called for help, for someone to come get you,” Bethel said while answering Mayhew’s questions in court.

Mayhew suffered a gunshot wound and was later treated at a Modesto hospital. No law enforcement officials were injured during their confrontation with Mayhew.

This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Judge’s son accused of murder in Turlock says everyone has right to security at home."