Courtroom Chaos

Be careful with the schizophrenic meth addict! They get really paranoid!

STOCKTON – His family said he never should have been on the stand.

But it was in the middle of David Paradiso's testimony in his own murder trial that the Stockton man leapt from the witness stand and attacked the judge – seconds before being shot to death by the Lodi police detective who built the case against him.

The attack occurred during a brief disturbance when Paradiso's mother, Debra, was removed from the courtroom after shouting that her son should never have been asked to testify. Paradiso, 29, had just told the court that he stabbed his 20-year-old girlfriend in the neck in 2006 " 'cause she deserved to die," according to observers.

San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Cinda Fox ordered a recess and directed the jury from the courtroom. In the commotion, observers reported, Paradiso left the witness stand, walked behind the judge's bench and grabbed her from behind.

He appeared to punch and stab Fox, according to reporters from the Stockton Record and Lodi News-Sentinel newspapers who were in the Stockton courtroom.

Authorities later confirmed Fox had been stabbed with "an unknown cutting instrument," though her injuries were minor. She was treated at St. Joseph's Medical Center and later released.

As the attack unfolded, Lodi Police Detective Eric Bradley, the lead investigator in the case, jumped from his seat at the prosecution's table and fired several shots, killing Paradiso. Bradley was later placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation, as is routine in officer-involved shootings.

Chaos ensued, and the reporters described people screaming and ducking for cover. Trials were halted and the courthouse locked down. Later, the building was emptied, save for witnesses, court employees and authorities beginning their investigation.

San Joaquin County authorities released little information about the day's events.

Paradiso's family, however, had much to say. His older brother, Aaron Paradiso, was in the courtroom when the shots rang out. He saw his brother fall before rushing his own 14-year-old daughter out of the room.

Recalling the scene in a long and emotional telephone interview, Aaron Paradiso went silent. "You've got me speechless," he said. "I was just feeling my little brother's pain."

Aaron Paradiso and his family assailed lawyers' decision to put David Paradiso on the stand, saying he was a paranoid schizophrenic who had been "breaking down" in recent weeks and couldn't withstand the stress.

"They were playing with a sick man on the stand like it was a game," he said.

The Record reported Paradiso had been questioned by his defense attorney, Charles Pacheco, without problem Tuesday. But he balked when asked to take the stand Wednesday for cross-examination.

Paradiso agreed to testify after a short meeting in Fox's chambers, the paper reported.

"He was going after her jugular, just as he did to the victim in this case," Pacheco told the News-Sentinel. "He was not stopping stabbing her, going for her neck. Bradley did the right thing."

Aaron Paradiso said his brother's illness was evident in the crime he was accused of committing: In December 2006, David Paradiso allegedly stabbed his 20-year-old girlfriend, Eileen Pelt, in the neck as the two rode in the back seat of his mother's car while she drove through Lodi.

His family does not dispute his guilt. Instead, they say the defense argument that methamphetamine use prompted the violence is deficient.

"The evidence shows what it shows. But the paranoia is real," Aaron Paradiso said. "The craziness was there."