Lover’s triangle detailed in testimony over Forestville shooting

A lovers triangle is at the heart of a violent Forestville dispute that ended when prosecutors said a man shot his romantic rival seven times, court testimony revealed Friday.

Eric Justensen, 48, is charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the Aug. 26 shooting of David Orlando-Griggs, 26.

The two were fighting over Karena Kamins, 43, who had broken up with Orlando-Griggs and was living at her Rio Dell Court home with Justensen, witnesses said.

Orlando-Griggs testified in Friday’s preliminary hearing that he still was secretly having sex with Kamins and went to her house to discuss getting back together.

That’s when he said the older man confronted him with a semi-automatic pistol and began firing, knocking him to the floor with a shot to the leg and continuing to fire “until he ran out of bullets.”

“He tried to cock it back like that,” Orlando-Griggs said, demonstrating the way Justensen stood over him with the gun. “He burned his hand on the barrel.”

Despite getting hit in the abdomen, arm and leg, Orlando-Griggs said he managed to hobble outside and hid under a nearby pickup until deputies arrived. Justensen was arrested in the house without incident.

Justensen, who has no previous criminal record, listened from across the courtroom as his rival testified.

At the end of the four-hour hearing, Judge Robert LaForge ruled there was sufficient evidence for the charges and ordered Justensen to remain in custody with bail set at $1 million.

Prosecutors dropped a child cruelty charge that was alleged because Kamins’ 8-year-old son was in the house at the time.

If convicted, Justensen faces a life prison sentence.

Justensen’s lawyer suggested his client acted in self-defense after Orlando-Griggs crawled into the house through a dog door while the couple was out and later threatened to beat him.

Attorney Scott Roberts said Justensen was afraid of Orlando-Griggs, who punched him once before and has a criminal record that includes carrying metal knuckles and felony cruelty to a dependent adult.

Also, in contrast to Orlando- Griggs’ testimony that Kamins asked him to come over, Roberts said there was evidence he entered the home uninvited after using methamphetamine.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, trimming marijuana buds, when Kamins and Justensen returned home from a day in Occidental, Detective Jayson Fowler testified.

When Justensen retreated to a bathroom, Orlando-Griggs pounded on the door, ordering him to come out in seven minutes or he would beat him, Fowler said.

Kamins later told police the two got into an argument before shots were fired, the detective said.

Fowler testified Kamins told him she took her son into another room and turned up the TV so she couldn’t hear them fighting.

However, she refused to testify about the shooting or her relationship with the men when called to the witness stand by prosecutor Andy Lukas. Her lawyer said she was invoking her right against self-incrimination.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.