Kody Marcelli's buddy testified that Marcelli told Harner's wife, "Shut up you dumb bitch"

The defense's last witness was Kody Marcelli's buddy since kindergarten, Jonathan Christian. He lives on Walnut street (again will not print the exact address) about half a mile from where the altercation occurred. He said Marcelli had an apartment but has been living with his mother "for about a year."

Christian said that he and Marcelli were heading back to Marcelli's home. Marcelli wanted to show him a video and since Marcelli's mother was at home, they decided to park at the school to view the video.

Christian said they were watching an Alex Jones video. They made eye contact with Diane Harner and she made the gesture, "I am watching you." He said that Harner gave them a salute. Christian said that this implied to him that they were doing something wrong.  Christian denied and said that neither he or Marcelli made any hand gestures to the Harners.

After this first brief interaction, the Harners had walked away. Christian said, "they (he and Marcelli) made a decision to go talk to them (Harners). This was because they had not seen the Harners before.

Christian said that Marcelli "initiated conversation with the fiancee and Mr. Harner came up to the car."

"Kody asked them if they were neighborhood watch. Kody made a U turn. Harner stormed to the car because Kody made a comment to his fiancee, 'shut up you dumb bitch'."

Christian said the conversation was civil and Gary Harner became aggressive after he made a comment about smart ass salute. "But you already saw that on video."

Since Christian was not in the room when the video was played, how did he know what we saw?


After they drove off, Christian said that he told Marcelli to call the non-emergency HCSO line but they got connected to the wrong department; the animal shelter. They thought they would call the police about the verbal exchange between them and the Harners. They saw the Harners walking back on Ridgewood and decided to walk up to them.

Christian said that the second encounter was "very civil and calm until I said a curse word and he went off". Christian corroborated that Diane Harner was on the phone with 911 and "was standing 15 feet back". Christian said that Gary Harner "started lecturing them" and was condescending but he could not recall the words. He said Gary Harner made violent statements but he could not recall what Harner said.

According to Christian, Gary Harner was "inching closer and closer" to Marcelli and Marcelli was telling Gary Harner to step back.

He said Harner said something like, "You think you are a fucking hot shot." At the time of the punch, he said that Harner was standing normally but prior to that Harner leaned back and "puffed his chest" and "had his fists up."

It is interesting that leaning back and puffing his chest is exactly what Marcelli did to me outside the courtroom yesterday after the preliminary hearing.

Christian said that Marcelli first hit Harner on the jaw, then on the left cheek. He said that Diane Harner got off the phone and ran to Gary Harner. This corroborated Diane Harner's testimony.

During cross examination, Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees was very effective. He had Christian backtracking his statements or  not having a cogent response.

Mr. Rees' questions:

Mr. Rees  asked Christian that if they were parked outside Marcelli's house, why didn't they  go inside the house? "Instead you chose to walk half a block to have another confrontation?"

"How did you know the police were on their way, when you didn't learn that until the physical altercation?" Mr. Rees asked Christian.

Mr. Rees: So, Mr. Marcelli made a good decision to go leave the scene after the second incident. Instead of calling the police from home, you walked half a block to engage two strangers?"

Mr. Rees made the same point that instead of driving home from the school, Marcelli and Christian chose to go confront the Harners about gestures.

Christian's responses:

Christian responded, "Again, I inferred."

"It was more my decision than him (Marcelli)"

"I can't recall, it's been a year"

Christian said that it was Kody Marcelli who told Joseph Soriano, "Mind your own fucking business."