Trial begins for SLO County man accused of killing rival at a party in 2019
A Shandon man was “jealous” and “enraged” when he repeatedly challenged an apparent rival to a fight, stabbing him multiple times and fleeing before being located and arrested by police in Paso Robles, a prosecutor said.
Opening statements were held Thursday in the murder trial of 29-year-old Kejuan Guy Bynum.
Bynum is accused of stabbing to death 23-year-old Cristopher Vento Wilson of Paso Robles, after initiating a fight with him at a small party on June 1, 2019, at a home on the 200 block of Escondido Way in Shandon.
Wilson is one of two people now dead after attending the gathering.
Another attendee, Wilson’s friend Trevon Perry, was killed in March 2020, allegedly by Nicholas Ron, prosecutors say, after Perry testified against Bynum in a preliminary hearing in December 2019.
A motive for Perry’s killing, however, is unclear, and no link has been established between the Wilson and Perry killings, according to the evidence that has been presented thus far in court, including testimony at a January preliminary hearing in the case against Ron.
The 2019 party took place in the afternoon at a Shandon home where mutual friends were drinking, San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Delaney Henretty told the jury.
“It’s a simple case,” Henretty said. “The defendant was jealous and enraged.”
Henretty said evidence will show that Bynum told his mother on a tapped phone call overheard by authorities, that “I done stabbed that n----- three to four times.”
Bynum has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which also include using a deadly weapon, a serrated knife, in the commission of the act.
His lawyer, Scott Taylor, said the case lacks motive and noted that a murder weapon was never found nor was a knife seen by witnesses. He also said that extreme alcohol intoxication will factor into the case as well.
“(Bynum) had a reason to fight,” Taylor said. “He didn’t have a reason to kill.”
The trial is expected to last about a month.
Prosecutor says jealousy was motive for killing
Henretty said Bynum stabbed Wilson repeatedly after provoking Wilson to a fight, though Wilson told Bynum that he didn’t want to fight.
The prosecutor described Bynum as “enraged” and “jealous” after Wilson interacted with a woman there.
Wilson arrived with his friend and roommate, Trevon Perry, to visit a female friend who lived there, Henretty said.
He said Wilson talked with a Shandon woman named Amanda Portney, a longtime friend, outside the home as Wilson smoked a cigarette and moments later playfully threw Portney onto a bed.
Bynum was “obsessed” with Portney, after they’d had sex once about six weeks prior to the murder — though Portney regretted that decision and sought to keep her distance from Bynum in the weeks after, Henretty said.
Bynum threw the first punch in a side yard of the property, landing a blow to Wilson’s shoulder, the prosector said.
In return, Wilson punched Bynum in the jaw, they tussled and both crashed through a fence and into a neighbor’s yard before the neighbor and Portney broke up the fight, Henretty said.
Moments later, however, Bynum later rushed Wilson in the front yard, Henretty said.
“He attacked (Wilson) with a knife he’d concealed in his hand,” Henretty said. “He struck and stabbed Wilson repeatedly.”
Henretty said: “(Perry) saw a tiny, shiny object in the defendant’s hand.”
Bynum then fled the home on foot, Henretty said, returning briefly to a residence on 3rd Street, before getting a ride to a friend’s home in Templeton and calling his mother, admitting the crime to her by phone.
Henretty said Bynum admitted to multiple people during the course of his attempted escape that he’d committed the stabbing crime.
Authorities tracked Bynum to an AM/PM on Niblick Road in Paso Robles and arrested him there within hours of the homicide.
Perry later was killed in March 2020, his remains discovered months later buried in the backyard of a Riverside home.
First witness takes the stand
Breaking down in tears at multiple points during her court testimony, Portney said she’d known Wilson for about eight years and considered him a close friend with whom she’d been romantically involved previously.
Portney, who lived in Whitley Gardens outside Paso Robles at the time, said she went to the Shandon home between 3 and 5 p.m. to visit her female friend who lived there and help look after the friend’s two young children.
Portney said she hadn’t seen Wilson in at least a year and he told her he was doing well in his life and had “found someone he cared about.”
While in the bedroom of her friend’s home, Portney said Bynum saw Wilson toss her on the bed, which was meant to be playful.
With a bottle of liquor in his hand, Bynum told Wilson to come outside, where the first fight took place.
“(Bynum’s) eyes went black,” Portney said. “... He was off his rocker.”
Portney perceived Bynum to be jealous, saying he’d been “obsessed with her,” even moving into her home against her wishes in the weeks prior, which forced Portney to leave to stay in a new residence.
Portney said she told the two to “stop” fighting and she pinned down Bynum’s arm as he held Wilson in a headlock in the neighbor’s yard and later tried to break up the fight again in the front yard.
Breaking down in tears, Portney said Wilson collapsed to the ground near the front door of the home, and she discovered the blood emerging from Wilson’s chest, ripping off his shirt, as people called for an ambulance.
Henretty showed photos revealing Wilson had been stabbed in the chest, shoulder and above his left eye, resulting in his death.
Defense attorney opens
In his opening statements, defense attorney Taylor said that the jury must take into consideration intoxication of multiple attendees at the party, including Bynum.
Taylor also cited a potential concussion that Bynum sustained, and “lack of a motive.”
“Nobody knows where the knife came from,” Taylor said. After the stabbing, Taylor added, “Nobody knows where (Bynum) went after he went down the street. ... No knife was ever found.”
Taylor said Bynum was the relative newcomer to the group of friends.
The defense attorney said witnesses saw punches thrown but no knife.
Taylor said that “everyone” was drinking at the party, and memories are “revisionist history.”
Taylor said a urine test showed his client had a blood alcohol level of 0.183% — more than twice the legal driving limit — eight hours after the incident and that he likely sustained a head blow during the fight, causing brain injury.
“He was trying to get away from Shandon and trying to get to his mom,” Taylor said, explaining why Bynum ran away.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify information related to the Trevon Perry homicide.
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 7:07 PM.
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