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Gunman convicted of manslaughter in slur-filled spat at Westminster motel

March 31, 2023

A gunman was convicted of manslaughter on Thursday, March 30, for killing a transient who was apparently yelling racial slurs at him while holding a baseball bat at a Westminster motel.

An Orange County Superior Court jury found Jonathan Breon Dunlap, 34, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, rather than of a more serious charge of murder, for the Dec. 2, 2017, slaying of John Nondorf, 37, at a Motel 6 in the 13100 block of Goldenwest Street.

That Dunlap, a Black man who had arrived at the motel from a party and was inebriated, had shot Nondorf in the face following a confrontation outside Nondorf’s motel room was not disputed.

Nondorf was a White transient who usually lived out of his Toyota RAV4 with his fiancée.

Two surveillance cameras captured the shooting but not a clear view of Nondorf’s actions just before he was killed. That left attorneys, during closing arguments this week in a Santa Ana courtroom, arguing over whether Nondorf was retreating into his room when he was shot, as the prosecution contended, or if he was charging at Dunlap while wielding the bat, as the defense countered.

The confrontation appeared to begin with Nondorf ordering Dunlap to get away from his car. Surveillance footage shows Dunlap near Nondorf’s SUV as he walks through the parking lot; he may have accidentally bumped it.

A woman staying at the motel said Nondorf said,”Stay away from my car,” with Dunlap answering, “My bad.”

Nondorf’s fiancée, however, testified that Dunlap responded by saying, “(Expletive) your car!”

Both women agreed that Nondorf used racial slurs including the “n word” during the ensuing argument. Nondorf’s fiancée said both sides used slurs, including Dunlap calling Nondorf a “cracker.”

Nondorf briefly went back into his motel room, then returned outside with a child’s-size baseball bat.

Witnesses say a friend of Dunlap’s took a gun out of the backseat of her car and handed the weapon to Dunlap, or he grabbed it.

Dunlap and several friends were just outside the door to Nondorf’s motel room, while Nondorf was apparently just inside at this point, out of the cameras’ view.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera told jurors that Dunlap punched Nondorf in the face before shooting him. She denied that Nondorf was still acting aggressive when shot.

“He was outnumbered four to one and knew they had a gun,” Madera said. “He understood he brought a peewee bat to a gunfight, and he wanted out. … You can’t kill someone for saying something you don’t like, even if we can all agree it was offensive.”

Dunlap’s attorney, Cameron Talley, re-enacted for jurors what he argued were the final moments of the confrontation, holding the blood-stained bat: Talley told jurors that by grabbing the bat Nondorf had introduced the potential for lethal force, and argued that Dunlap didn’t shoot until Nondorf “rushed” at him.

The defense attorney said Nondorf could have simply closed his door and denied that Dunlap punched him.

“Mr. Nondorf is dead today because of his own actions,” Talley said. “This case is about a bigot who is angry and started this altercation.”

Dunlap faces up to 44 years to life in prison.

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Orange County Register

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Gunman convicted of manslaughter in slur-filled spat at Westminster motel

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