“I could kill you if I wanted to. The only way out is the graveyard”.
Those chilling words were Ryan Edward Breeland’s reply to his boyfriend, Kenneth Banks, 32, in a collect, tape-recorded phone call to Banks while Breeland, 42, was in jail for assaulting him.
Banks had just told Breeland he wanted to end their relationship.
“No, that’s not what will happen”, said Breeland, according to homicide detective Grant Jobe who testified in the preliminary hearing.
“The only way out was death”, testified Jobe in quoting Breeland in the phone call.
On cross examination with Breeland’s attorney, Shonte Hobson, Jobe said Banks ended two of the calls with Breeland by telling him “I love you”.
On June 9, 2021, Banks’ bruised and beaten nude body was discovered in a downtown motel room in which Breeland was the registered guest.
Following two days of testimony, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill ordered Breeland to stand trial for murder on Nov. 3 as well as two counts of committing earlier domestic violence against Banks.
Breeland pleaded not guilty. A trial date was set for March 1, 2023.
Breeland’s attorney submitted the case to Gill without argument as did Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast and he ordered him to stand trial on all charges.
The tapes of the recorded phone calls were not played in court in order to save time but will likely be played at trial.
Photos of the bruised and battered body of Banks were shown on a large screen in court by Dr. Robert Stabley, the deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy.
He said Banks died of “blunt force head trauma” and had brain damage.
Breeland looked up at the screen once to view his partner’s body, and then looked down. He never looked back up despite it being on the screen for hours, and he looked down during most of the hearing.
Banks had been punched in the face quite a number of times. Stabley said he had swelling, hemorrhages, brain bleeding, lacerations in his hair, contusions, and his frenulum in his mouth was lacerated.
Dorothy Sanchez, a housekeeper at the San Diego Downtown Lodge, testified she went inside the room after Breeland had checked out to discover a man under the covers in bed.
Sanchez said she tried to wake the man and had her supervisor with her when he tapped on the man’s shoulder and there was no response. She discovered the man was “completely stiff” with “a bruised face”.
“I went outside to try not to throw up when I saw his bruised face and saw he was dead”, said Sanchez. “He had a black eye. He was not breathing”.
Sanchez testified other motel guests had complained about the couple’s loud arguments and they once were banned from staying there.
Jobe testified Breeland was the only person seen leaving the room in camera surveillance footage. “It appears he’s wiping off a knife”, said Jobe about one photo.
Other police officers testified about what Banks told them while responding to domestic violence incidents with Breeland.
Detective Casey Moss said Banks told her that Breeland threw a chair at him while they were staying at a Motel 6 on Jan. 13, 2021. Banks said he “felt dazed” when he was struck by the chair to his back.
Banks said Breeland stabbed him in the buttocks and punched him following “another argument about cheating”, said Moss, who added that Banks said his partner “had violent tendencies”.
Jobe testified that Breeland was easily located June 9, 2021, after the body was found because he was on parole and wore an ankle bracelet. He was arrested 6-7 blocks away from the downtown motel.
Breeland remains in the central jail without bail.
