Flag City murder suspect blames drugs

STOCKTON — The day he fatally shot his girlfriend at a Flag City gas station, David Brian Bernel was on drugs and feared for his life, he testified today in his own defense against a murder charge.

"I was too frantic, too scared. My mind was just going," he told a San Joaquin County jury about shooting Jennifer Bushnell, then fleeing and ditching his car less than a mile away.

Leaning forward in his seat and turning to face the jury, Bernel described his drug use dating back to age 14, his drug sales that brought in $40,000 a week and the events leading up to that fatal Feb. 20, 2007, day.

After shooting Bushnell, 29, Bernel ditched his Honda west of Interstate 5, stumbled across Highway 12, lost his gun in the process and kept going.

He knew he'd just shot his girlfriend multiple times, but he also believed angry drug dealers were after him. So, he testified, he hid in some trees nearby and watched police search the gas station where he shot Bushnell. While passing some time, he snorted some methamphetamine to "be more alert and on my toes," he said.

Then he went to the nearby Flying J gas station's bathroom, cleaned some mud off himself and sat in a stall for a couple hours.

And, while law enforcement officers processed the scene, Bernel went to a McDonald's in sight of the gas station. He ordered some food and sat outside near a pay phone, which he used to try to call his cousin.

A year-and-a-half later, Bernel, now 29, is on trial. If 12 jurors don't believe that he acted in self defense or was so high on drugs that he didn't know what was happening, Bernel could spend the rest of his life in prison.

For more of this story, see Saturday's News-Sentinel.