Modesto man convicted of manslaughter for stabbing man who yelled at him to slow down
Brenda Bauer said sitting through weeks of testimony in the trial of the man who killed her first-born child following a road rage incident was “like reliving his death.”
When the prosecution rested its case against David Cutler earlier this month, Judge Scott Steffen threw out the first degree murder charge following a motion by the defense, saying there were elements of both imperfect self defense and a crime of passion in the death of Trevor Bolton.
“The whole family was very disappointed,” Bauer said. “(The stabbing) was on camera. Everyone seeing what we’ve seen, I still to this day do not understand (the decision).”
And when a jury ultimately convicted Cutler of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, Bauer said she didn’t get the closure people expect at the conclusion of years of legal proceedings.
“The bottom line is I didn’t get my son back,” she said. “(Cutler) needs to be punished for what he did, and we did get that, but Trevor is not with us.”
Cutler stabbed Bolton three times on March 8, 2015, in the parking lot of the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation building on Coffee Road. Cutler was 23 at the time and had no criminal record.
Road rage incident started the encounter
About 10 minutes earlier, the two had encountered each other a few blocks away on Lucern Avenue.
Bolton, 25, was skateboarding with a friend and his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son toward the medical building when Cutler drove past them.
District Attorney’s Office investigator Darren Ruskamp, who was the lead detective on the case, said Bolton told Cutler to slow down, Cutler told Bolton to get out of the road and “there were profanities back and forth.”
In his own statement to an officer, captured on a body camera and played for the jury, Cutler said , “He looked at me and said ‘Slow down.’ And I am a skater, too, so I understand, but he was skating in the middle of the road so I slowed down and I said ‘What’s that matter?’ and he was egging me on and he was like ‘Get out of the car fool, get out of the car’.”
What happened next is only known by Cutler and perhaps his girlfriend who was riding in the car with him. It either supports the prosecution’s assertion that this was a premeditated murder or the defense’s argument that Cutler was trying to make amends with a fellow skateboarder and was forced to act in self-defense.
Deputy District Attorney Wendell Emerson said Cutler went to his nearby home to get the knife he used to stab Bolton.
The defense argued the knife was already in Cutler’s vehicle and that he went home to get his skateboard.
“I was trying to tell him I am a skateboarder, too,” he told the officer and later testified to at trial.
But Cutler’s girlfriend testified that the knife was used for protection and was kept under their mattress, Emerson said.
She testified she only saw him get his skateboard but Emerson said she was so concerned about something that she ran a half mile from their home to the scene after Cutler left in his car.
Emerson said she testified that Cutler told her he was going to “take care of the problem.”
Cutler is seen on video surveillance at the medical building driving toward Bolton, who is skateboarding in his direction. He immediately gets out of his car and Bolton is seen coming toward him, motioning with one of his arms and apparently telling Cutler to leave.
A fight quickly ensues, with Bolton throwing the first punch. The entire incident takes place next to the vehicle, on the side farthest from the surveillance camera so only the upper half of their bodies are visible.
“Bolton comes up, head butts him, socks him and starts throwing him around like a rag doll,” Cutler’s defense attorney Frank Carson told The Bee.
Carson said Cutler grabbed the knife out of his car at that point to defend himself but Emerson said Cutler already had it in his hand when he got out of the car.
The knife had a metal knuckle on the handle. Emerson said it’s evident from the video Cutler wouldn’t have had time to retrieve it from the car and put his fingers through the finger holes.
Furthermore, before Cutler would have had a chance to get the knife, he is seen striking Bolton’s left arm, Emerson said. Bolton had a stab wound there.
The fight ended with Cutler being pushed to the ground.
Victim helped solve his own case
Then Bolton did something that might very well have “solved his own case,” Emerson said.
He grabbed the keys out of the ignition in Cutler’s car and threw them.
“To have that forethought to know ‘Hey I got to keep this guy around’ … is pretty amazing,” Ruskamp said.
Emerson said Cutler thought Bolton pocketed his keys and he can be seen on video surveillance trying to reach into Bolton’s pocket as Bolton walks into the medical building clutching his stomach, where he was stabbed twice.
Cutler was detained by security until police arrived. His keys were later found in a tree. Investigators also found his knife, which he was seen on surveillance video hiding in a bush.
Bolton was rushed to the hospital where he died from excessive blood loss after hours of surgery. A stab wound to his liver proved fatal.
COVID stops trial for three months
Cutler’s trial began March 2 and was several weeks in when the Chief Justice of California suspended all new trials as a result of COVID-19.
“We couldn’t just end the trial because the jury had been sworn in so double jeopardy attaches,” Emerson said. “Had we declared a mistrial without the permission of the defendants” the District Attorney’s Office couldn’t refile charges.
As courts throughout the state closed down almost entirely, but for emergency matters, the trial went on.
“I believe we were the only case going in the entire state,” Emerson said.
Then on April 1 the Chief Justice ordered all trials suspended.
Both Emerson and Carson said they appreciate that after two months, the jury returned June 8 to hear the rest of the case, including testimony from Cutler.
“I am gratified that the jury was patient and came back and gave their full attention,” Carson said.
But no one was happy with the outcome.
Carson said he is disappointed his client wasn’t acquitted.
“I strongly believe that Mr. Cutler acted well within the law. He didn’t have malice in any way,” Carson said. “He is genuinely remorseful about the situation. Everyone in that courtroom mourned and grieved for Mr. Bolton.”
Missing out on many firsts
“He was a fun-loving kid, he was the life the party, always put a smile on everyone’s face, he walked into a room and he just lit it up,” Bauer said.
In addition to skateboarding, Bauer said her son had a passion for playing the guitar.
He’d just turned 25, just bought his first house and moved in with his girlfriend and was about to take an exam to be a real estate agent and begin a new career.
Bolton died at at time when he was experiencing a lot of firsts, Bauer said, and he has missed out on many since.
“My first grandchild was born, Trevor wasn’t there for that. (His sister) got married; Trevor wasn’t there for that. I don’t get to see Trevor get married and have kids,” Bauer said.
She said she can’t bring herself to throw away any of her son’s belongings.
“His clothes, his shoes, they are all there waiting for him to come home,” she said. “But he never will.”
Cutler is scheduled to be sentenced next week. He faces between four and 12 years in prison.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 12:41 PM.
