Final moments of Dumont’s life recounted

MORRIS GREENBERG walks to the courtroom on Tuesday morning. Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene

Testimony in the murder trial of Morris Greenberg continued Tuesday, one week after opening statements were delivered.

Greenberg, 40, is charged with the 2008 murder of 26-year-old Anthony Dumont.

At the time of his death, Dumont was dating Greenberg's estranged wife, Barrie, and was helping her move out of the

Somerset home she once shared with the defendant.

Prosecutors contend Greenberg arrived at the foreclosed home on Nutmeg Lane on July 20,2008, and became enraged when he saw Dumont helping Barrie move her possessions.

A retired police officer, Greenberg regularly carried a concealed weapon with him.

Greenberg is accused of shooting Dumont three times while the Grizzly Flat man sat in a parked vehicle.

On Tuesday, prosecutors called El Dorado County Fire paramedic Dan Gautschi to the witness stand.

Gautschi and his partner were waved down by Dumont's sister and brother-in-law shortly after the shooting.

Gautschi told jurors that he and his partner were driving down Pleasant Valley Road to respond to reports of a woman who fell off of her horse.

But Gautschi never made it, as he was flagged down by Dumont's relatives, who had taken the injured man to Bones Roadhouse in an attempt to call for help.

Gautschi testified that his partner exited the ambulance, only to learn that Dumont had been shot several times.

The medics pulled over and Gautschi went over to the vehicle where Dumont and his sister, Renee Romanko, were seated.

"There was a lady holding a man in her arms," he said.

Gautschi said Romanko appeared to be terrified.

"She was pretty frantic," he said. "Excitable. She seemed scared."

Gautschi told jurors that Dumont was still breathing but that he was unconscious.

The two medics moved Dumont from the vehicle onto a gurney and wheeled him over to the ambulance, where they attempted to bandage his gunshot wounds.

"We only noticed that he had a weak pulse and that he was unconscious," said Gautschi.

But the medics soon realized that Dumont's condition had worsened.

"By the time we got him to the secure location of an ambulance, he no longer had a pulse," testified Gautschi.

The medic told jurors that he began chest compressions on Dumont but that he was unable to revive the injured man.

Dumont was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m.

Also Tuesday, prosecutors indicated to the court that their case-in-chief could be wrapped up as soon as Wednesday.

But defense attorney Erik Schlueter told Superior Court Judge James R. Wagoner that he might need to put the trial on hiatus for several days because of some last-minute discovery issues.

Schlueter said he received some previously unseen material relating to the reconstruction of the shooting Monday night and that he would require three to five days to review it.

As of press time, Judge Wagoner had not indicated how much spare time, if any, he would grant Schlueter.

Greenberg has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. During his opening statements, Schlueter told jurors that his client, fearing the Grizzly Flat man was reaching for a gun hidden in his sister's truck, shot Dumont in self-defense.

Previous testimony from Barrie Greenberg, the defendant's estranged wife, revealed that Dumont had brought a handgun with him on the day of the move.

Crime scene investigators testified a handgun was found in the vehicle Dumont reportedly drove earlier that day.

Dumont, though, was shot while sitting in a different truck.

E-mail Jim Ratajczak at jratajczak@mtdemocrat.net or call 530-344-5069.