On October 20, 2022, Fontes' 10-year-old son reportedly hid in his bedroom while Fontes was in an argument with the child's mother at her home. Police said Fontes put a gun to the victim's head during an argument and pulled the trigger just as the victim ducked under the muzzle.

Fontes is scheduled to go on trial next week, and Mohave County Deputy Public Defender Paul Ammann made a motion before the jury to suppress Fontes' past criminal convictions.

If Fontes testifies in his defense, prosecutors intend to use his criminal record to impeach him at trial, Amann said. On February 16, Amann argued that references to these convictions could unfairly bias Fontes' jury against him. Also, these convictions occurred more than a decade ago, otherwise prosecutors could be barred from citing them at Fontes' trial.

Mr. Aman argues that the court erred in not admitting his past convictions from 2002 to 2014 as evidence at trial. Aman said a fairer approach might be to admit Fontes' past convictions without naming them in front of the jury.

Fontes' previous conviction for aggravated harassment is not normally allowed for prosecutors to use more than a decade later, according to a Feb. 20 response from Mojave County Deputy Prosecutor Jacobo Chavez. But as the defense prepares to call character witnesses on Fontes' behalf, Chavez says the criminal record could be mentioned in cross-examination of witnesses.

President Chavez announced this week that cross-examination of witnesses about specific instances of a defendant's conduct may be allowed to help juries assess whether character witnesses' opinions about a defendant's character are well-founded. Stated.

Mojave Senior Judge Derek Carlisle could rule on those arguments as early as this week, or at Fontes' trial starting Feb. 26 in Kingman.