What a crazy weekend full of parties. Friday night was chill, but Saturday we went to Jason & Anna’s 2nd Annual Memorial Weekend bash. It was pretty fun, and Jason didn’t quite make it through the night unscathed :) We crashed there, and awoke to the loud clanging of cleaning.
Then after a couple hours we headed on over to Eli’s place for his “recovery BBQ”. That was cool too, and we got to play guitar hero and eat bacon-wrapped shrimp!! We couldn’t stay the full party because we had a party of our own to host. So we left and got home around 6PM.
I was exhausted, and just laid down for a few minutes, but could only afford to do so for about 15 minutes. We had to rush to prepare for our party, with the first guest arriving before 8PM. Hardly anyone came until 9:30PM or so anyway, at which point the party became decently packed. We didn’t invite as huge of a list as normal, a lot of guys were too wasted to show up, a few unexpected girls showed up, 
and I daresay it was a 50%-or-better ratio. Best…Ratio…Evar.
Pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/. Specifically, Jason & Anna’s party is HERE, and our party is HERE.
Saturday night ended with a couple people getting in a fight, and I had the brand-new experience of breaking up a fight, something I’ve never done before. Let alone at my own party. Let alone in my own bedroom.
Some people just don’t respect the sanctity of people’s bedrooms. Given that this same person went out and pissed in my yard — NOT during a party — rather than use the bathroom like a proper civilized individual, I somehow suspect that I should have realized something was wrong with said person earlier. I had also previously asked that he not be brought over.
Oh, the drama!
But there were other really fun things happening during the party. Cool things. Hot things. Stuff that doesn’t suck. Yes.
Finally, I crashed — last of everyone who was still there — after watching the episode of American Dad that I fell asleep during. Around 4:30AM. Got up the next morning and we headed to Shannon & Christian’s BBQ. It was pretty chill, and I saw everyone who didn’t bother to show up at my party the day before. And they heard about it ;)
We left early around 6:15PM, because we had to go home and clean our house some for the county inspection we had tuesday.
Ever since the party, our place has been plagued with the smell of death. If anyone knows what it could be, please let us know. It’s smelled like a rotting dead corpse ever since the party. Sick.
UPDATE: 1/24/2007: Another party with another fight. Read about it here:
https://clintjcl.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/journal-my-33rd-birthday-party/
Claire's blog 
May 31, 2006 at 12:49 PM
Holy cow am I low key compared to you guys! This weekend, I did a 12 mile hike, found a 1914 train tunnel, caught up on journal entries, took some naps and attended a small cookout (7 people).
But on the upside, my house doesn’t smell like a rotting dead corpse.
…Just dog urine.
May 31, 2006 at 1:03 PM
Hahaha.. I think I would prefer the corpse, because it will eventually decay, whereas urine smell lasts forever?
Is that accurate? I have no idea. I’ve never run a controlled study :)
May 31, 2006 at 1:26 PM
Cat urine seems to have a very long lifespan. My cat had an accident in the Isuzu Rodeo back in the day. For a number of summers afterwards, on hot days, you could still smell it. It did eventually fade in magnitude.
I guess just as there is not a pure perpetual motion machine, there isn’t a perpetual smell.
From my experience, dog urine doesn’t seem to be as potent or as persistant, which is good.
Both glow in the blacklight though.
May 31, 2006 at 3:54 PM
We’ve tried the blacklight thing, and it doesn’t work. Maybe only on some cats. Certainly not ours.
June 1, 2006 at 1:25 AM
There is an important lesson here, dont have parties at your house, it attracts all sorts of riff raff. Mick http://rockwatching.wordpress.com
June 1, 2006 at 7:40 AM
But lots of fun was had! There were even 4 chicks making out together! Nope, wouldn’t miss that for the world.
January 24, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Less than one year later, a second fight erupts at one of our parties. Read about it here:
March 1, 2007 at 3:30 PM
You guys seem to attract Drama! – But you also have a LOT of fun!
March 1, 2007 at 3:57 PM
Well.. 8 yrs, many parties, only 2 fights, and only be people who were not invited / dis-invited.
March 16, 2007 at 10:36 AM
UPDATE: Guy who started fight loses wrongful death lawsuit.
$2 Million Awarded In Wrongful Death
By Tom Jackman
Wash.Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; Page B05
After Jack “Steve” Cornejo was shot to death outside a Fair Oaks apartment during a fight in 2005, Fairfax County authorities decided the gunman acted in self-defense and let him go without charges.
But this week, after hearing from a crucial new witness, a Fairfax civil jury saw things differently. The panel ordered the gunman, Brandon P. Gotwalt, to pay Cornejo’s father nearly $2 million in damages and an additional $16,588 for funeral expenses.
The verdict, which came Wednesday after a three-day wrongful-death trial, was the latest step in the Cornejo family’s pursuit of its own justice for the fatal shooting. They still want Gotwalt prosecuted for murder.
“The money is not too important in this case,” said Austin Cornejo, 48, of Falls Church, Steve Cornejo’s father. “Justice is what we’re looking for. I can’t sleep at night; I have headaches. I don’t understand why they never arrested him. Why?”
Legally, Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. could reopen the case. In July 2005, for only the third time in his 40 years as Fairfax’s chief prosecutor, he let a grand jury decide whether to bring charges. The grand jury declined to indict Gotwalt after hearing testimony from the lead investigator, homicide Detective Chester Toney.
Horan did not return a call yesterday seeking comment.
Gotwalt, who testified that he acted in self-defense, could not be located for comment yesterday. His attorney, John A. Keats, said there was “little or no chance” that the Cornejos could collect the jury’s award of $1,954,400, because “he’s a guy who makes about $60,000 a year. He doesn’t own anything.” Gotwalt works for an electronics company in Fairfax, Keats said.
On the witness stand Monday, Gotwalt, 28, recounted the same story he told police on the morning of June 25, 2005. He claimed he had seen and heard Cornejo, 23, yelling at and shoving a young woman outside his apartment on Pender Creek Circle, just off West Ox Road, at 4:30 a.m.
Gotwalt told a friend to call police, then went outside with a .38-caliber revolver loaded with “snake shot,” small pellets designed for hunting small animals. Gotwalt said he thought he could use it in self-defense.
According to Gotwalt, Cornejo’s argument with his friend had ended, but he and Gotwalt began exchanging words. Then they started fighting. Gotwalt said he struck Cornejo in the head with the gun and as they wrestled on the ground, the gun went off and hit Cornejo in the back.
Horan said in 2005 that Cornejo was the aggressor, was “getting the best of” Gotwalt in the fight, and that Cornejo was “very, very drunk,” with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20, more than twice the legal definition of intoxication.
But Gotwalt acknowledged in his testimony that he returned to his apartment, shredded and then flushed his shirt down the toilet, flushed the shell from the shooting and washed his pants. When police first visited his apartment, he denied any knowledge of the incident. More than two hours after the shooting, he returned to the scene and provided his story. Police found Gotwalt’s glasses and sandals on the ground near Cornejo’s body.
But Giuseppe Amodeo, a neighbor who saw the fight, provided a different story. He testified that Gotwalt repeatedly hit Cornejo in the forehead with the gun, then shot him in the back as he stood behind Cornejo, not while they were wrestling. Keats said Amodeo had not told that story to police previously.
Toney testified that the wound in Cornejo’s back was a contact wound and couldn’t have been fired from any distance because the small pellets in the shell did not leave marks on Cornejo’s body or clothing.
Malik K. Cutlar, Austin Cornejo’s attorney, wondered in an interview how a man could shoot someone in the back, flee, destroy evidence and lie about his involvement — and not be charged with a crime. “The overall investigation into this matter was just awful,” Cutlar said.
Keats said that Fairfax police had done an exhaustive investigation and that Gotwalt would appeal the verdict.
March 16, 2007 at 10:37 AM
I should add that Brandon’s parting words to Jesse before he came back and attacked him were, “I’ve killed men for less”. Everyone in the kitchen heard it, though some may have been too drink to remember it.
Apparantly, it’s also true.
March 16, 2007 at 11:39 AM
Friend of the victim’s blog:
http://kitatik.wordpress.com/2007/03/
March 16, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Friend of the victim’s blog:
http://kitatik.wordpress.com/tag/brandon-paul-gotwalt/
March 16, 2007 at 3:24 PM
Victim’s MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/ourfriendsteve
March 16, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Man’s Death Mystifies Friends
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902815.html
Family Frustrated by Lack of Police Info on the Death of Steve Cornejo
http://www.fcnp.com/517/lead1.htm
Loved Ones Mourn Va. Man, Seek Arrest
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/06/AR2005070602163.html?nav=rss_metro/va
No Charges for Shooter In Slaying of Va. Man
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/18/AR2005071801384.html
Connecting the Shots – Shooters’ names are a big secret in Fairfax County.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cheap/2006/cheap0331.html
^ months later, victim’s family still did not know who had pulled the trigger
Soccer Star’s Killer Finally ID’d
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/index.php/2007/03/05/soccer-stars-killer-finally-idd/
The dead man had captained George Mason High School to its first state championship in 2000
^^ This one’s good. LOTS of comments BY THE PEOPLE INVOLVED.
March 16, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Cornejo Killer Finally ID’d, Sued for ‘Wrongful Death’
http://fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=972&Itemid=33
Editorial: Cornejo Family Wins Justice
http://fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=988&Itemid=34
Jury Awards Cornejo’s Family $2 Million in ‘Wrongful Death’
http://fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1000&Itemid=33
“Two eyewitnesses to the killing provided compelling evidence that contradicted the “self defense accidental shooting” account of the assailant, Brandon Paul Gotwalt. One testified both that he saw Gotwalt as the aggressor who was on top of Cornejo and hit him with the butt of his pistol repeatedly before shooting him at close range in the upper back. The other said he saw a flash and heard the shot, and saw Gotwalt, “on top of” the victim, get up and run away. Both also said they heard someone say twice, “Why do you want to take my life?” before the shot was fired.”
^^^ That is a pretty fucking powerful quote to get from TWO eyewitnesses.
Yet earlier reports said there were no witnesses. That is a bit strange.
March 16, 2007 at 3:56 PM
^^^ by the way, that last article was the best one so far.
Fairfax Jury Awards $1.97 Million to Murder Victim in Case Prosecutor Declined
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2007/0004546507&EDATE=
^ a bit redundant if you’ve read all of the above
March 16, 2007 at 5:31 PM
Thank you for publishing all of these :)
March 16, 2007 at 7:53 PM
[…] https://clintjcl.wordpress.com/2006/05/31/oh-the-drama/ […]
March 18, 2007 at 6:16 PM
Clint,
Thank you so much for posting this information about Brandon Paul Gotwalt’s character aggressiveness on the internet. He may think he got away lightly but I know he will be rotting in jail soon enough.
March 27, 2007 at 2:37 PM
I’m not really wanting so much exposure, but I am compelled to mention that this very post has been referred to by this article at the Washington City Paper:
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/index.php/2007/03/22/people-of-fairfax-county-be-very-very-scared/
September 21, 2007 at 2:38 PM
Once again, this post is mentioned elsewhere:
http://blueweeds.typepad.com/blue_weeds/2007/09/republican-cand.html
Looks like I’m voting Republican this year?!
September 21, 2007 at 10:12 PM
[…] candidate Patrick McDade “strongly believes” the Steve Cornejo murder case (shot by a disinvited party guest of mine who started a fight) should be reviewed. Looks like I’m voting […]
October 26, 2007 at 12:47 PM
[…] began coming out about Gotwalt being a bizarre and dangerous figure. One blogger said he had personally heard Gotwalt brag about the killing in the midst of committing another physical assault at a party. A […]
November 3, 2007 at 4:20 PM
^ In regards to the last trackback comment (#24), specifically what he said was, “I’ve killed men for less”.
November 3, 2007 at 5:44 PM
[…] to a shooting (victim’s MySpace here), as well as to unfortunate events that occurred at a party in my house and created many permanent social schisms among many […]
July 18, 2008 at 12:34 PM
TRACKBACK:
“Morrogh Tows The Line In The Cornejo Case”
http://blueweeds.typepad.com/blue_weeds/2008/07/morrogh-tows-th.html
A good point made that the burden for criminal indictment is lower than that for civil judgment, yet there was no indictment despite the fact that a civil judgment was in $2M was made against the shooter.
Of course, he never paid a dime and continues to make $60K/yr.
Justice in Fairfax? Seemingly no.
July 18, 2008 at 12:49 PM
And another article about this:
http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3305:new-fairfax-prosecutor-declines-cornejo-action&catid=13:news-stories&Itemid=76
“According to Morrogh, police witness accounts reported at the time indicated that Gotwalt intervened to break up a fight between Cornejo and his ex-girlfriend on the breezeway outside the apartment where the party occurred, and that Cornejo then turned his anger on Gotwalt. An altercation resulted where the pistol Gotwalt was carrying went off, killing Cornejo, according to the police.
Witness accounts presented at the civil trial indicated that the ex-girlfriend was not at the scene at the time and that Gotwalt was the aggressor, wrestling Cornejo to a kneeling position below him, and firing the gun into Cornejo’s back, killing him. The civil trial included testimony of an eyewitness who said he’d not been interviewed by police at the time of the shooting, but Morrogh said he had been.”
“Falls Church Mayor Gardner had expressed keen interest in the case from the beginning, but found she could obtain no explanations from then Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan about the failure to indict Gotwalt.”
“Earlier this year, a Fairfax court upheld a bankruptcy filing by Gotwalt, absolving him of any liability for fulfilling the civil court judgment against him.”
One comforting fact remains:
The statute of limitations never expires for murder.
July 22, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I wish in some way a psychological evaluation for Gotwalt had been done and submitted to court. The fact that he has no guilt or regret, no hard feelings in taking a human life, and further more that the fact that he “accidentally” killed someone supports his strength and ability in another altercation, “I’ve killed men for less”… that kinda says something about a person, like he’s not right in the head?!
Especially when the “for less” was being compared to hugging a girlfriend who was more than willingly making out with other people (as she has done freely previously public…. so really the “less” was having a private conversation (regardless of it being outside or loud, Call the cops if its bugging you don’t go down there with a gun!)… I mean seriously???
You can’t say it was in defense if he went out there and got involved in something that had NOTHING to do with him.
AND WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT WHAT HE SHOT HIM WITH… Any projectile at close range is meant to harm or kill the target…. if he was too stupid to know that… than its still manslaughter!
Nothing I’ve read has said the ex-girlfriend was in any physical danger during whatever argument she was having with Conejo? So other than trying to be a bad ass, why didn’t he just call the police in the first place before deciding it was his responsibility to get involved with what he supposedly believed to be a gang-related situation?! He’s either an idiot or insane.
August 14, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Here’s another interesting link that shows more info:
http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3305:new-fairfax-prosecutor-declines-cornejo-action&catid=13:news-stories&Itemid=76
October 3, 2010 at 5:02 PM
UPDATE: I just heard today, thirdhand, that he allegedly attacked another person I used to know at a party. His friends are ostracizing the victim instead of the perpetrator. I guess people really don’t change. At this point, I’m sad I lost all the friends, but I’m still glad I dropped that crowd. It’s not worth it.