A Huntington Beach man was convicted Tuesday of special-circumstances murder for the brutal slaying of a man and woman in a Newport Beach condominium, killings apparently driven by his jealousy at those he believed were in relationships with an estranged girlfriend.
That Jamon Buggs shot Darren Partch, 38, and Wendi Miller, 48, to death on April 19, 2019 was never disputed during his two week-long trial in a Newport Beach courtroom, with Buggs attorneys instead arguing that he committed the slayings in the heat of passion and should be convicted of a lesser charge.
The jury deliberated for about three hours. Buggs showed no reaction to the verdicts as they were read in court.
Sentencing is set for June 3. Buggs faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office opted not to seek the death penalty against Buggs. But racially charged comments made by DA Todd Spitzer during internal deliberations that led to the death penalty decision ignited a controversy when they surfaced earlier this year.
According to internal DA memos, Spitzer asked about the race of Buggs’ former girlfriends and told his senior management that he “knows many Black people who enhance their status by only dating ‘White women.’”
Buggs is Black; Partch and Miller were White, as is Buggs’ ex-girlfriend, Samanta Brewers.
Buggs wrongly believed that Partch was in a relationship with Brewers. Miller had no ties to Buggs, and had only met Partch hours before her killing.
“The motive, probably as old as human history, is jealousy,” Deputy District Attorney David Porter said. “He doesn’t want anybody to be with Samantha if he can’t.”
Defense attorneys alleged that Buggs mistook Miller for his ex-girlfriend when he burst in on Miller and Partch having sex, telling jurors during the trial that Buggs wasn’t prepared for how he would react when faced with evidence of what he long feared.
“This is not a whodunit,” Alternate Defender Michael Hill said. “This case is a why did he do it.”
Buggs and Brewers met at a Riverside gym, where he was working as a trainer, and quickly began dating before moving in together at a Huntington Beach apartment. Buggs’ attorneys said the two saw themselves as a “power couple,” as Brewers, with Buggs training, won body building competitions.
Brewers during the trial described her relationship with Buggs as “toxic.” The prosecutor told jurors that the relationship ended in late 2018, though defense attorneys contend both Buggs and Brewers continued to be in contact and meet with each other, ignoring restraining orders they had each taken out.
In late March 2019, Brewers sent Buggs an emailing saying she had “moved on,” adding “I don’t know why you can’t leave me alone.” In the days and weeks that followed, Buggs began focusing on men he believed were in relationship with Brewers.
Partch also met Brewers at a gym, and exchanged social media contact info with her, but according to testimony in the trial he was never in a romantic or sexual relationship with Brewers. The other man Buggs was accused of targeting, Jared Young, was in a relationship with Brewers.
Buggs called Partch and told him to stay away from Brewers, according to testimony, and confronted Young at his business and gave him the same ultimatum. He also looked up addresses for both men and Brewers and visited Partch’s residence multiple times, according to evidence presented during the trial.
On the night of April 19, 2019, Buggs, armed with a .38 caliber revolver, went to Partch’s condominium. When an acquaintance texted him to ask what he was doing, Buggs responded shortly before midnight by writing “Street business baby.”
Partch and Miller met at a nightclub that night and went back to Partch’s condominium, where Partch apparently forgot to lock the door. Buggs entered the condominium and interrupted Partch and Miller having sex. Partch apparently stood up, prosecutors said, while Miller rolled off the bed.
Buggs fired four shots at Partch, hitting him first in the shoulder, which spun him around before a second bullet hit him in the back of the head, according to testimony. Buggs was accused of then walking up to Miller, putting the gun either directly up against her head or only inches away, and then pulling the trigger.
“It was barbaric, it was cruel,” Porter said. “Even saying it was heinous doesn’t accurate describe what was happening. In a manner of seconds the defendant became a cold-blooded killer.”
Buggs’ attorneys say the killings were the result of a “slow burn” within Buggs from months of pressure in his relationship with Brewers building up. Buggs had become “consumed” with finding out if Brewers was with another man, the defense attorneys said.
“He walks in the room and all his fears, all his suspicions, the thing he has been consumed of for days and weeks leading up to this event come to fruition,” Hill added.
The prosecutor countered that there was no evidence that Buggs mistook Miller for Brewers, telling jurors that Partch was Buggs’ target and he could have killed Miller since she witnessed the slaying.
Less than a day after killing Partch and Miller, Buggs went to an Irvine apartment complex where he wrongly believed Young, the man Brewers had begun dating, was living.
A woman sitting in her living room screamed when she saw Buggs on her second-story balcony, leading Buggs to quickly flee. As he climbed down, Buggs apparently fired a shot from the revolver he was carrying, leaving a bullet later recovered by police in an eave above the balcony.
Irvine investigators set up a surveillance at the apartment complex, and the next night Buggs returned. Officers tried to pull Buggs over, kicking off a pursuit and search through a residential neighborhood that ended with Buggs arrest. A bag with a gun in it was found in a nearby backyard.
Ballistics tests tied the gun to the Newport Beach killings and the Irvine shooting. DNA evidence tied Buggs to the revolver and the bag it was found in.
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The race of Buggs, the victims and his ex-girlfriend was not part of arguments during the criminal trial. But the potential impact of the racial comments made in the lead-up to the trial remain unclear.
In a statement following the verdict, Spitzer denied that the racial comments he made during the internal discussions demonstrated any bias, describing such allegations as “baseless and quite frankly offensive.” The DA said his comments came while discussing the possibility that Buggs misidentified Miller, which he noted was argued in court by the defense.
According to the internal DA memos, some in the office were concerned the comments could have run afoul of the Racial Justice Act, which is meant to address situations where a prosecutor exhibits a racial bias toward a defendant.
Buggs opted to move forward with his jury trial rather than agree to a delay that would have allowed his attorneys to pursue a potential recusal of the DA’s office. Last month, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett accepted under seal several boxes of internal communications from the DA’s office, which the judge indicated he will personally go through to see if any documents should be turned over to defense attorneys.
Prickett, who also presided over Buggs’ trial, is still in the process of sifting through the DA documents. On Tuesday, the judge indicated that he expects to be done looking through the documents and ready to discuss a defense motion to dismiss the case by the June 3 sentencing date.