MARTINEZ — Billy Cole may have been high on several drugs and, in his words, “foggy” enough to deceive police, but his mind never doubted the intentions that Rommel Hernandez had for him and 28-year-old Anastashia Wilfong on the morning of March 2, 2022, at his parents’ Oakley home.
“I thought he was gonna kill her or seriously injure her,” Cole testified about the moment that he shot Hernandez, 35, a Sacramento resident. “He’d already grabbed her. He’d already shot me.”
Cole spent Monday and Tuesday on the witness stand before a jury in a Martinez courtroom, where he is facing a murder charge in the death of Hernandez, who Cole described as a friend until the day of the killing. Both sides agree on the basic facts of the case and are making their arguments largely using footage captured by an interior camera set up in Cole’s bedroom for security reasons.
The two men got into a heated exchange in the early morning after Hernandez discovered his ex-girlfriend, Wilfong, hiding in a primary bathroom at the house. Cole testified that he and Wilfong had recently started a sexual relationship.
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Cole — high on methamphetamine, Hydrocodone and marijuana at the time, he tesitfied — and Hernandez struggled over Cole’s pistol, and Hernandez fired it, hitting Cole in the webbing of the hand. A few moments later, Cole shot back at Hernandez from the hallway while Hernandez was on the other side of the primary bedroom door and trying to hold it closed.
Hernandez staggered out of the room, collapsed in front of Cole’s parents’ bedroom and died. Cole and Wilfong then declined to call law enforcement — with video capturing Cole proposing what to do with the body — leaving Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office deputies to discover the crime seven hours later when they showed up at the door to serve an unrelated warrant.
Cole’s defense claims that Cole acted in self-defense and argues that he made bad decisions in how he handled the shooting after it occurred, in part because Cole never wanted it to happen.
Asked what would have happened if he had not shot Hernandez, Cole was blunt on the stand: “I think at least one of us — me or (Wilfong) would be dead, or seriously injured.”
The prosecution has painted Cole’s actions as cold-blooded, fueled by years of tension between the men. Prosecuting attorney Jordan Sanders brought to Cole’s attention several inconsistent statements about the way the shooting unfolded and incredulously pointed out that Cole didn’t call police for seven hours, yet he still had time to drive Wilfong from Oakley to Richmond or Oakland to drop her off at a friend’s.
Asked why he didn’t call authorities sooner, Cole said: “I never got the chance.”
In the moments after the shooting, video captured Cole talking about whacking Hernandez’s head with a hatchet if he woke up or getting his body “burnt down to bone.”
“I was panicked, scared, on drugs,” Cole testified. “I regret saying those things. It was disgusting behavior. … I don’t know why I said those things.”
Cole’s defense attorney, Nathaniel Johnson-Gottlieb, said Hernandez’s killing was not the plan, and Cole testified that he grabbed his pistol after Hernandez showed up unannounced. He said that Hernandez pushed his way into the home’s front door.
“I just wanted him to leave,” Cole said.
When it became clear Hernandez wasn’t leaving, Cole said he became more and more “terrified.”
“He was just very matter-of-factly telling me, ‘I’m gonna kill you’ if he finds her. I didn’t want to escalate the situation and did not want to have to shoot him,” Cole testified.
Hernandez continued looking for Wilfong throughout the house, while Cole told her she wasn’t there. Eventually, Hernandez made his way into the primary bedroom and found Wilfong hiding in the bathroom.
Cole said he tried to stop Hernandez from advancing on Wilfong, and the two men struggled for the gun. Cole testified that he felt a “burning feeling” and then blood drip down his hand after a shot went off, but he managed to hold onto the weapon.
The struggle continued, and Cole ended up outside the bedroom, with Hernandez holding the door closed. Worried for Wilfong, who was still inside the bathroom, Cole continued pushing inside the bedroom and warning Hernandez that he would shoot him.
Eventually, Cole fired one shot through the door; the bullet struck Hernandez in the arm and traveled to his chest, causing fatal damage.
Johnson-Gottlieb later pointed to Cole’s state of mind after the killing, arguing that the defendant was not trying to deceive officers to save his hide, but rather was still in shock from being wounded in a shooting and then later killing his own friend, Hernandez.
“Did you ultimately tell (law enforcement) the truth?” Johnson-Gottlieb asked.
“Yes I did,” Cole said.
The trial will resume Wednesday and is likely to last at least through the end of the week.
