A San Diego judge ruled Monday that prosecutors may present prior domestic violence evidence in the Raymond McLeod trial, allowing jurors to hear about alleged assaults on two former partners before the 2016 death of his girlfriend, Krystal Mitchell.
McLeod, 42, is charged with murder in Mitchell’s death by strangulation. He and his attorneys maintain the death was accidental and the result of consensual rough sex that went too far.
Mitchell, 30, was discovered unresponsive and severely injured in a San Diego apartment on June 10, 2016. Responding officers reported signs of a struggle, and surveillance footage showed McLeod grabbing her by the throat and pulling her into an elevator, according to investigators.
Authorities say McLeod, a former Marine, fled through Mexico to El Salvador, where he lived as an English teacher until his capture in 2022. The U.S. Marshals Service had placed him on its most-wanted list in 2021.
Prior acts admitted in Raymond McLeod trial
Deputy District Attorney Franciesca Balerio told the court the case involves “the ultimate act of domestic violence,” and argued that McLeod’s history is highly relevant. San Diego Superior Court Judge Kimberlee Lagotta agreed to admit evidence of two prior incidents, from 2009 and 2016.
In the 2016 incident, described in court filings, McLeod and his then-wife, identified as R.J., were staying at a friend’s home during a divorce. After learning R.J. was in another room, McLeod allegedly dragged her out by her hair. When others opened the door, he was strangling her, prosecutors said. Balerio told the court R.J.’s face turned purple and she could no longer speak, and that McLeod was out on bail in that case when Mitchell was killed.
The same woman described additional instances of domestic violence and rape in court documents, according to the filings.
In a 2009 incident, prosecutors say McLeod pushed another ex-wife, identified as K.G., while she was holding their son during a custody exchange in a parking lot, then pinned her against a car.
Judge Lagotta ruled the two episodes were within the scope of relevant evidence and could be sexual in nature. She denied McLeod’s motion to exclude them, noting that prior domestic violence within 10 years can be admitted in trials involving new domestic violence allegations, regardless of whether the victims are the same.
Defense witness limits and discovery dispute
Defense attorneys sought to call witnesses, including former girlfriends, to describe consensual behavior involving choking. One witness observed McLeod kiss a woman while holding her throat in what the defense said was a consensual act, attorney Alison Triessl told the court.
Lagotta said witnesses may describe what they observed but may not characterize it as consensual. Reading from a semi-anonymous statement, Triessl noted a woman described choking as something she accepted during sex and said McLeod stopped when asked. The judge declined to admit that testimony in this case, despite it being allowed in a previous criminal matter in 2025, ruling it was not relevant to McLeod’s relationship with Mitchell.
The defense also argued that the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office produced substantial new discovery too late, including hundreds of pages of records and cellphone data from McLeod that they said had been in the government’s possession for years. Attorney Robert Sheahen told the court that materials were delivered only in the past week, including over the weekend, leaving the defense without time to review them. He said similar discovery issues led to a dismissal in 2025.
Both sides agreed to continue the preliminary hearing to allow the defense time to examine the newly produced materials.
McLeod, wearing a suit and with his hair in a man bun, sat beside his attorney and spoke only to agree to the continuance. Mitchell’s mother, a former police detective, attended the hearing.
The extradition and capture of fugitives like McLeod have drawn broader attention in recent years, including in cases such as an Uzbek national extradited to face U.S. terror support charges.