Justin G. Bonifield is led out of the courtroom following his bail hearing.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – He said the firearm accidentally discharged, but his girlfriend said that during an argument Justin G. Bonifield hit her in the face, struck her in the back of the head with a beer bottle causing her to see stars and threatened to kill her as she tried to get out of their Centralia house.
The 40-year-old woman told deputies she slid beneath the garage door after pushing the automatic door opener, and began to run toward a neighbor’s house for help when she heard a gunshot, so she dropped to the ground and crawled the rest of the way, according to court documents.
Bonifield, 47, wasn’t arrested until the following day, but by then, law enforcement was already in the process of uncovering a fully functional meth lab at the Joppish Road home, according to authorities.
The Centralia man was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court facing six felony charges.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said the defendant has two prior felonies and asked that his bail be set at $200,000.
Temporary defense attorney Kevin Nelson noted his client has only had one warrant in the past and has a job as a fabricator in Olympia. Nelson requested $25,000 bail.
Judge Joely O’Rourke agreed with the prosecutor’s request.
The incidents took place on Monday night, and were investigated after the victim got her neighbor to call 911. She had a bloody lip, large lumps on the back of her head and a concussion, according to authorities. Bonifield had fled in a Ford Mustang.
The girlfriend told deputies Bonifield manufactures methamphetamines in one of the outbuildings on the property, something she’d watched him do on prior occasions, according to Halstead.
Deputies obtained a search warrant and located what was described as a lab, with chemicals known to be associated with the red phosphorous method of meth making, according to charging documents. They collected beakers, tubing, flasks, a condenser and crystal substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the documents.
They also found an empty Corona beer bottle on the floor of the home and a gun, the documents relate. Deputies found a trailer on the property that had been reported stolen within the county late last year as well, according to Halstead.
Charging documents make no mention of any bullet being retrieved.
The suspect was found in Thurston County on Tuesday and taken into custody.
“Bonifield admitted to having the firearm and acknowledged he was not to possess any firearm,” Halstead wrote in charging documents. “He also stated the firearm was accidentally discharged.”
He is charged with second-degree assault, felony harassment and manufacture of methamphetamine – an offense Halstead said he hasn’t seen in his nearly seven years in the prosecutor’s office.
Bonifield is also charged with second-degree possession of stolen property, second-degree unlawful possession firearm and possession of meth.
His prior convictions were from 1995 in Pierce County, for attempting to elude and a violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.
His arraignment was scheduled for today.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Real big shot here. Tuff guy.
Please….Yes I manufacture meth, Yes I hit my girlfriend over the head with a bottle, yes I threatened to kill her, yes I had a gun I was not allowed to have due to felony convictions…..but nope I did fire the gun.
Just clean out the cell and send him to prison.