Proceedings reset for Fremont man charged with trying to kill Vallejo cop

A Solano County Superior Court judge reset a pretrial proceeding until early next year for a Fremont man charged with trying to kill a Vallejo cop during a 2018 Oakland gun battle following a high- speed pursuit from Vallejo into the East Bay city.

Dominic James Milano, 42, was scheduled to appear Friday for a trial readiness conference in Department 2 in Vallejo, but Judge Daniel Healy rescheduled the matter until 8:30 a.m. Jan. 22. The judge previously scheduled Milano’s jury trial for 8:30 a.m. July 12 in the Justice Building.

Milano’s pending court appearance follows a preliminary hearing on Nov. 16 and 17 last year. Afterward, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn, who is prosecuting the case, decided to drop all but one attempted murder charge, agreeing with Deputy Public Defender Nick Filloy there was only sufficient evidence to charge Milano with the attempted murder of Officer Matt Komoda and not two other officers involved in the Nov. 1, 2018, chase into Oakland, where the defendant was arrested.

In a brief interview after the two- day proceedings, Filloy said the DA did not have enough evidence to charge Milano with the two other felonies since a bullet — or a bullet fragment — was found in a vehicle shared by the two responding officers, a bullet that may have been a ricochet, not a round fired directly at them.

Proceedings have been delayed or postponed for a number of reasons in the last several months, among them a pending ruling on whether to grant Filloy’s request for records of arrests and prosecutions of key witnesses in the case, including at least one Vallejo police officer.

During the initial preliminary hearing, witnesses to the shooting in the area of International Boulevard and 22nd Avenue, where Milano allegedly began firing at officers after crashing his vehicle, described what they saw and heard.

One of them said he was unable to identify the driver in a “black car,” and, under cross-examination by Filloy, said he saw the driver of the vehicle through the passenger side of the vehicle. The witness also said he didn’t see the driver of the black vehicle fire a weapon.

Flynn called to the witness stand Brandon Graham of Vallejo, who told the prosecutor that he had called 911 on Nov. 1 after seeing Milano earlier in the day.

A day or two before the alleged crime, Graham said he had agreed to help Milano move and, at one point, the defendant had shown Graham several weapons in his possession.

He told Flynn that Milano had called him during the police pursuit and, at some point, told Graham he was not going to be captured by the police.

With the DA’s decision to pursue only one attempted murder charge, it appears Milano, a previously convicted felon, may face other counts that he was originally charged with: Illegally possessing an assault weapon; possessing prohibited ammunition; evading a police officer and being a wrongway driver; being a felon in possession of a firearm; and possessing body armor.

If found guilty at trial, Milano may face a life sentence with the possibility of parole on the main charge and additional years on the others, with the possibility of enhancements.

The Solano County DA’s Office filed a complaint in the case on Nov. 5, 2018, according to court records.

Around 1 p.m. Nov. 1, Milano was reportedly armed and sitting in a vehicle in the Glen Cove neighborhood. A witness alerted officers, whose arrival on scene prompted Milano to flee. He then sped west on I-80, reaching speeds of up to 120 mph as he headed toward Alameda County.

Milano allegedly fired at pursuing Vallejo police officers during the chase and, arriving in Oakland, where he crashed his vehicle, he subsequently again fired upon the officers. They returned the gunfire. No officers were injured.

At the time of the shooting, Milano reportedly was wearing body armor and in possession of a considerable cache of firearms. A search of his vehicle revealed an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, an AK- 47 assault rifle, an Uzi submachine gun and two Glock semi-automatic handguns.

Solano County sheriff’s deputies arrested Milano on Nov. 12 at Alameda County Jail and booked him into Solano County Jail the same day.

He remains in jail custody on $2.5 million bail.