[chris]

A Bakersfield, California, defense attorney called 911 before dawn on June 12, 2013, and told dispatchers he had shot his wife inside their home, according to police reports later filed in Kern County Superior Court.

Officers who responded to the couple's home in the 1200 block of Telegraph Avenue found Mark Madrigali, then 57, in the front yard and took him into custody, the reports said. Inside, they found his wife, Trivia Madrigali, 51, lying face down on the living room floor with a gunshot wound to her chest and a spent shotgun shell beside her.

Madrigali told investigators the shooting was "an accident, a complete and total accident," the reports said. Officers noted the smell of alcohol on his breath, and relatives and neighbors later told police he drank heavily and had previously threatened his wife.

Trivia Madrigali was hospitalized in critical condition with damage to several internal organs. She died about a month later, and the Kern County coroner's office ruled her death a homicide caused by complications of the gunshot wound. Prosecutors then moved to raise the charge against Madrigali from attempted murder to first-degree murder.

Madrigali pleaded not guilty and was released on bail while the case moved toward a jury trial set for December 2015, according to court records.

He never reached the courtroom. His defense attorney found him dead at his home in the 300 block of Acacia Avenue on Oct. 6, 2015, after several days without contact, the Kern County coroner's office said. The office later ruled his own death an accidental drug intoxication.

Kern County prosecutors closed the murder case against Madrigali following his death, court records show.