Gun-Wielding Woman Attacker Pleads Guilty

A man who beat his girlfriend in a car in Harveston and pointed a gun at a retired sheriff's sergeant pleaded guilty today.

Julius Ceasar Santa Monica, 20, admitted to felony false imprisonment, misdemeanor aiming a handgun at a person and using a fire arm in a fight.

He is free on bail and scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 29, according to court records.

The charges stem from an incident that happened in a parked car on May 19, 2011 near Harveston Lake.

Peter Miranda, a retired San Diego County Sheriff's Department, was taking a stroll with his wife near the lake when he heard a woman screaming for help.

Leaving his wife safely behind, Miranda walked up to the car, he recalled after a court hearing today. "If somebody's screaming for help, what do you do?" he said.

He found Santa Monica attacking the victim. "He had his hands on her throat, I don't know if he was strangling her… he was on top of her, yelling at her, 'You're not going to leave me,'" Miranda said.

The retired sergeant tapped on the window and identified himself as an officer. Santa Monica then turned and pointed a handgun at him.

Miranda grabbed Santa Monica's arm, wrestled the gun from his hand and subdued him until Riverside County sheriff's deputies showed up, he said. "I  almost show him. I always carry a gun on me," the former sergeant said.

He was arrested and released on bail a short time later. To read about the arrest,

The gun turned out to be unloaded, Judge Angel Bermudez said today.

The victim forgave Santa Monica since the attack, according to Karl Fuller of the District Attorney's office. "(Santa Monica's attorney) gave me a written statement that seems to indicate she thinks the defendant's a very nice person and doesn't want anything to happen to him," the attorney said.

The judge issued a "no negative contact" restraining order against the defendant forbidding him from harassing the victim and permitting her to record their conversations secretly.

The 20-year-old, wearing a black untucked polo shirt and blue jeans, wiped tears from his eyes with a handkerchief as the judge told him what the consequences of his plea might be.

The judge said he'll consider downgrading a felony charge of false imprisonment to a misdemeanor at the sentencing because Santa Monica has a job and no criminal record, he said. "This is an aberration of behavior for Mr. Santa Monica," Bermudez said.

The retired sergeant who subdued Santa Monica agreed after the hearing. "He doesn't seem like he'll go back to that behavior," he said.