Matthew Brown's ex-gf confirms victim called him "bitch boy" and provoked him into fight

Prosecution's third witness today was Matthew Brown's ex-girlfriend Kara Williams, also known as Kara Kessler.

A conflicted witness, she briefly smiled at Brown. DDA Kelly Neel asked her, "Are you stressed?" She responded with, "I am feeling a lot of things."

Williams cried as she was shown a picture of Scott Johnson, the man who died 4 days after Brown allegedly shot Neil Decker, the victim in this case. She cried every time his name was mentioned this morning.

She had known Johnson for 20 years and met Decker through Johnson 10 years ago. Williams lived and worked on Johnson's property. She was romantically involved with Brown. They broke up and both started dating other people. She said she only started dating "Kai" after she learned Brown had moved in with his new girlfriend.

Ms. Neel asked Williams, "Do you love Matthew Brown?" She responded, "I loved him like a friend. I wasn't in love with him." According to her own testimony and others, she was the one who broke up with Brown and this was a few weeks before the shooting. She seemed embarrased to mention that she was older than him.

Brown initially laid his head on the table when Williams started testifying but then looked up. He kept turning back and looking at Decker's family and others in the courtroom.

She explained that Brown came up to Rancho Sequoia because they were dating. "Matthew was there because I wanted him there. He was the man on the property, the guy." This was when Johnson wasn't around. "He took on a lot because no one else was doing anything." Williams said that Brown did not have a job and that he basically helped out because he was living with her on the property. He had access to the house but "everyone knew the codes. The house was open to all who came around regularly."

She admitted she used meth with Brown but "not very often" with Decker because "it was not a social thing for me."

Williams had also dated Johnson years ago, when they first met but said, "he was more like a dad, a brother, a friend now."

She testified that the victim Neil Decker egged Brown into fighting with him even when Brown tried to avoid it. She also confirmed Johanna Hames testimony this morning that Decker called Brown "bitch boy". Hames had denied on cross that Decker called Brown "butt boy". Williams said that Decker threatened Brown and said, "he would fuck him in the ass."

She said she heard about the "pepper spray incident" that others had referred and that she witnessed another incident between Decker and Brown where Brown told Decker, "I don't want to fight you" but came down from a truck, they wrestled and then Brown walked away to avoid further fighting.
She said that "there was an ongoing disgareement " between Decker and Brown but that it was escalated and was mostly about "Neil being upset that the gates were being locked."

Williams said that Brown did not do meth before he came to Johnson's property and that the drugs made him lose focus and ultimately his job because he would not help out on the property like he did before. She said meth did not change Brown but that he "was verbally abusive...an asshole" when he did meth.

She said she was the one who spray painted "bitch boy" on Brown's motorcycle because she was pissed at him, not Decker. This had been brought up in Hames testimony earlier. Williams said twice that "Neil did not like Matthew" and that Brown got a firearm because he was afraid of Decker.

On cross by Brown's attorney, Mr. Greg Elvine-Kreiss, Williams explained that Brown thought people should not be coming in and out of the property. Earlier doing direct questioning from Ms. Neel, she said that this was the "one thing Matthew was good at, keeping the gates closed" and that Brown wanted control and that he did not like Decker leaving the gates unlocked and open. During cross, she elaborated on Decker's threats to "fuck Matt in the ass like the terminator did." According to her testimony, Brown told her he had been sexually assaulted by someone with that name.

As she was testifying, she kept looking back at Decker's family in the audience. Mr. Elvine-Kreiss asked her if they were keeping her from telling the truth. They had been doing this all morning, looking at her. She responded with a no. Williams said that it was not Decker who accused Brown of stealing tools but "other people who wanted Matt gone."

Similar to Hames, Williams denied statements she had made to investigators today in court.