Defense: Dumont slaying in self-defense

In the opening statements of Morris Greenberg's murder trial this week, attorneys in the case agreed on one fact: Anthony Dumont was shot and killed by the retired Burlingame police officer.

Dumont, 26, was killed on July 20, 2008, while helping his girlfriend — Greenberg's estranged wife — move out of Greenberg's foreclosed home on Nutmeg Lane ion Somerset south of Placerville.

While seated in a relative's vehicle, Dumont was shot three times: once in the head, once in the torso and once in the thigh.

Greenberg, 40, is charged with Dumont's murder, assault with a firearm and two special allegations.

On Wednesday attorneys delivered their long-awaited opening statements to a full courtroom.

El Dorado County deputy district attorney Vicki Ashworth's brief opening provided jurors with a glimpse of the events leading up to Dumont's death.

According to Ashworth, Dumont, his girlfriend, his sister and his brother-in-law were working to move items out of Greenberg's residence when, unbeknownst to the four, Greenberg himself arrived.

Ashworth said Greenberg ordered all of them to leave and threatened to call the authorities.

While Greenberg and his wife, who filed for divorce earlier that year, argued, Dumont returned to his sister's truck and waited.

However, Erik Schlueter, Greenberg's defense attorney, told jurors that his client saw Dumont reach for what Greenberg assumed was a gun underneath the car seat.

As a retired police officer, Greenberg regularly carried a handgun, Schlueter said. And Dumont, who worked at Placerville's Newtown Firearms, was known to carry a concealed weapon as well, according to the attorney.

Fearing for his life, Greenberg's years of law-enforcement training kicked in and the former cop opened fire, Schlueter said.

"Mr. Greenberg reasonably reacted to what he thought was a life-threatening situation," said Schlueter.

But Greenberg did not take center stage in Schlueter's opening.

Rather, the attorney focused much of his opening on 45-year-old Barrie Greenberg, the defendant's wife and "central character," according to Schlueter.

Barrie and Morris Greenberg had been married for 10 years and had one child together. Several months before Dumont was killed, Barrie told her husband she wanted a divorce.

As a witness to the shooting, Barrie Greenberg had not told a consistent or reliable story to authorities, Schlueter claims.

"She's a pathological liar," he said.

"Her family will tell you that she's manipulative, that she turns the tears on and off to get what she wants."

Schlueter's opening was interrupted several times by objections from Ashworth.

Minutes into his statement, jurors were sent back to the waiting room so that attorneys and Judge James R. Wagoner could discuss the defense's opening, which Ashworth felt lacked the proper tone of a criminal trial.

"This is not the time and place for a divorce proceeding," she told the court.

Schlueter did not dispute much of the story presented by Ashworth. But when Dumont returned to his sister's truck, he began reaching for something beneath the passenger side seat, the attorney said.

Greenberg, according to his attorney, saw Dumont holding a gun inside of the truck and fired his own weapon three times.

The shooting was not intended to kill Dumont, Schlueter said, but to neutralize a perceived threat.

But when he realized what he had done, Greenberg became distraught, Schlueter said.

"Overcome by having shot somebody, (Greenberg) shot himself once in the jaw," he told jurors.

Unable to call for help because of poor cell phone reception, Dumont's sister and her husband drove the injured Dumont to the Pleasant Valley fire station to find aid.

Instead, they found an empty station.

Dumont was rushed across the street to a restaurant where his relatives could phone for help but he died later that afternoon.

Greenberg was found by authorities in the driveway of his foreclosed home. He was airlifted to an area hospital and was treated for several months.

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