MODESTO -- A preliminary hearing is scheduled to start Tuesday for a former Stanislaus County sheriff's detective charged with murder in the off-duty shooting death of a woman who brandished a BB gun during a dispute outside a Modesto home last year.
Kari Abbey, 34, has been charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter along with conspiracy, embezzlement, cultivating marijuana, receiving stolen property and child endangerment.
Rita Elias, 31, of Modesto died Sept. 24, 2010, after Abbey shot her multiple times during an argument in front of the duplex owned by Abbey's parents on Donald Street in west Modesto, according to authorities.
Abbey remains free after posting a $1 million bail bond. At the end of the preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova will rule whether there's enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
While arguing for an increase in Abbey's bail in August, Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris told the judge that Abbey had a pattern of unlawfully evicting tenants, sometimes shutting off utilities before forcing them to leave. He said Abbey had no right to evict Elias or use force to remove her.
Michael Rains, Abbey's defense attorney, countered by saying Elias emerged with the BB gun, which looked like a real gun, and pointed it at Abbey, who had her two children in her vehicle nearby. He called the incident "a self-defense shooting."
Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.
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