St. Marks takes the stand in attempted homicide trial

Nevada St. Marks, who is accused of attempted deliberate homicide or, in the alternate, assault with a weapon, testified Thursday morning in District Court that he stabbed his friend in self-defense and then lied to police afterward to protect that same friend from the law.

“This is a case of self-defense,” Steven Scott, St. Marks’ attorney, told jurors in his opening argument before bringing St. Marks, his only witness, to the stand.

The attorneys made closing arguments Thursday, and the jury began deliberating the case today.

Havre resident St. Marks, 22, testified he was celebrating with friends Sept. 17 because it was his last day in Havre before moving to Great Falls to work as a roofer. They drank a lot of alcohol by that night, he said.

At some point early Sept. 18, he said, he fell asleep and that’s when the alleged victim, Cordell Wilson, a longtime friend of St. Marks, came to his home and woke him up.

St. Marks said he told Wilson they were celebrating because he would be leaving town to work as a roofer. That’s where the trouble began, St. Marks said.

Wilson told him that he didn’t know how to roof, St. Marks testified. He told Wilson his grandfather had taught him how, to which Wilson said his grandfather didn’t know anything, either.

Throughout the trial, Scott had tried to establish while cross-examining prosecution witnesses that St. Marks’ deceased grandfather was a sensitive subject for the defendant.

“I told him to watch his mouth when he’s talking to me or we’ll fight,” St. Marks testified.

St. Marks said he tried to tackle Wilson but failed and instead opened himself to be hit by Wilson. The fight turned into a wrestling match, St. Marks said, and he “cried uncle” after realizing he had been beaten.

He said he told Wilson to leave, but his friend didn’t. Instead, St. Marks said, Wilson followed him around all the way to the kitchen, and, ultimately, to the sink. Wilson continued to “smack” him in the back of the head and he resisted hitting back until he was hit so hard he saw “stars.”

That’s when he realized he was going to have to defend himself, St. Marks testified. He said he was afraid of what Wilson would do and grabbed a knife from the sink and initially planned to scare him but stabbed Wilson instead. But Wilson seemed unaffected by the first thrust, St. Marks testified.

“He just kept coming,” he said.

That’s why he stabbed again, St. Marks said.

Scott asked St. Marks why he lied to police a few hours after the incident and pretended he didn’t remember anything.

St. Marks testified Thursday he lied to the police because he panicked and he wanted to protect his friend from the law and not give Wilson any more to worry about as he was fighting for his life.

On Cole-Hodgkinson’s cross-examination, St. Marks said he only told the truth in the interview with the police when talking about who was there during the two days and all the drinking everyone was doing. Whenever he said “I don’t remember,” St. Marks said, he lied. He said he wanted to take the blame to keep his friend, Wilson, from testifying.

Scott and Cole-Hodgkinson gave their closing arguments late into the afternoon.

As she started, Cole-Hodgkinson told jurors she was not as prepared as she wanted to be and the closing argument “won’t be pretty.”

Even throughout all the lies, Cole-Hodgkinson said, St. Marks still managed to show in his interview with police how much it bothers him when someone insults his grandfather, which showed he had a reason to be angry. Cole-Hodgkinson then cited an earlier witness — a girl who had been with the group the entire time — who said St. Marks had brought out the knife three times while the group was partying. And then St. Marks himself said he had clotheslined someone, she said.

“It’s a precursor for what’s about to come,” she said to the jury.

The way the wounds were made, especially the left armpit stab, shows that St. Marks was not stabbing someone who was charging him as he said, but someone who had his arm lifted, as Wilson said, Cole-Hodgkinson told the jurors.

Cole-Hodginson asked what would someone who repeatedly plunges a knife into another at heart level be trying to do other than kill that person?

She also asked where were marks on St. Marks’s head if he were struck as he said he was. If they fought over the knife, why did no marks appear on his hands?

Cole-Hodgkinson pointed out St. Marks used the word “smack” to refer to what Wilson was doing to him. When someone “smacks you,” she said, that’s not reason to use deadly force.

Cole-Hodgkinson also pointed out a medical form St. Marks filled out before entering the jail. On it, St. Marks marked down that he had bronchitis, some breathing issues and popping noises in his right shoulder. But he didn’t mention any of the bruises or pains he testified he incurred from fighting with Wilson.

“Based on how he told it, the evidence doesn’t support it,” Cole-Hodgkinson said, adding the jury must find St. Marks guilty of attempted deliberate homicide.

In his closing argument, Scott started out by pointing out that only two shoe prints were made on the blood-drenched carpet, yet two people testified they had walked in afterward. Witness Dustin Welch also told contradictory stories, he said.

“(Welch) has three different stories for where he was,” Scott said.

He also questioned Wilson’s story about the whiskey he said he brought over to St. Marks. Scott showed the jury pictures of where the stabbing took place. A picture of the crime scene shows a lone whiskey bottle in a paper bag a few feet away from where the stabbing was supposed to have happened. Why was it there? Scott asked? Wouldn’t Wilson have dropped the bottle and shot glass when he stabbed?

What happened is that his client realized Wilson wasn’t going to stop hitting him so he defended himself, Scott said.

And even if it wasn’t in self-defense, Scott said, St. Marks stabbed Wilson and then he had him down. If St. Marks wanted to kill him, why would he stop? Scott said.

“Why not keep going?” Scott said.

Scott said the incident wasn’t attempted murder.

“This was a bunch of people who had way too much to drink,” Scott said.