Trial date reshuffled again for man charged with 2018 murder of girlfriend
The previously scheduled May 16 trial date for a 28-year-old Vacaville man charged with the July 2018 murder of his on-again, offagain girlfriend has been rescheduled for the coming weeks in Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield.
Gage Harold Pontarelli, who appeared Thursday and Friday in Department 11, heard Judge William J. Pendergast reset it for 9:30 a.m. June 6 in the Justice Center.
The judge also scheduled pretrial proceedings, including a prosecution's motion to amend the criminal complaint and a trial readiness conference at 8:30 a.m. Monday and a trial management conference for 8:30 a.m. June 2.
The defendant's trial date has been pending for well more than two years, with delays and proceedings rescheduled frequently, in part because of the pandemic. Redwood City-based attorney Jessica Agnich represents Pontarelli. Senior Deputy District Attorney Bill Ainsworth leads the prosecution.
Pontarelli is charged with the first-degree murder of Samantha Jack, 22, of Elk Grove, whom police believe he shot and killed in the pre-dawn hours of July 22 in Vacaville.
A Vacaville police report indicated that officers responded to a shots-fired call around 3 a.m. They were directed to a detached garage in the 400 block of Kentucky Street.
Upon arrival, police found Jack on the floor and unresponsive. CPR proved unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Jack is believed to have suffered a single gunshot wound to the upper chest.
Pontarelli, who reportedly lived in the garage, was also at the scene. Officers indicated that he said he had been in a fight with Jack.
He was taken to the police station, interviewed again, arrested, then booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of murder and remains without bail in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield.
During a court appearance on July 24, 2018, in Judge John B. Ellis' courtroom in the Hall of Justice in Fairfield, Pontarelli pleaded not guilty.
During a held-to-answer arraignment following a 2019 preliminary hearing, he again pleaded not guilty.
Court records also showed Pontarelli has no history of violence. However, he was arrested in 2016 in connection with a vehicular burglary and auto theft in downtown Vacaville.
If found guilty of the murder charge, Pontarelli, under California law, faces 25 years to life in state prison, with the possibility of more time for using a firearm.