Jury convicts St. Marks of attempted deliberate homicide

A jury in state District Court in Havre found 22-year-old Nevada St. Marks guilty Friday afternoon of attempted deliberate homicide.

The jury began deliberating about 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and reached a decision shortly before noon.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 28 at 10 a.m.

Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson and St. Marks' attorney Steven Scott argued for three days, beginning Tuesday, on the charges of attempted deliberate homicide or, in the alternative, assault with a weapon, both felonies.

Cole-Hodgkinson called six witnesses to the stand during the trial - three of them people who were in the area when St. Marks stabbed Cordell WIlson - including Wilson.

Wilson testified Wednesday that he came to Havre from Browning to finish some tattoos he had already begun on St. Marks. After initially coming to St. Marks' home Sept. 17, he left because he found no one there. He said he came back a few hours later, in the early morning of the next day, and found what appeared to be St. Marks having sex with someone. He left once again, he said, to let the two collect themselves, before coming back.

Once together, the two old friends talked about what each had been up to before Wilson said he asked the age of the girl he saw St. Marks having sex with. St. Marks told him not to worry about it, and when he asked the girl, she told him she was 21, then said she was 18. Wilson said he didn't believe either one because "she didn't look it."

Wilson testified he told St. Marks it wasn't right what he was doing and it wasn't worth messing up his life over.

Wilson said he planned to leave because he felt uncomfortable, but St. Marks asked him to take shots of whiskey first. When he raised his arm with the shot glass in hand, Wilson said, St. Marks stabbed him multiple times with a knife that was in the kitchen.

Dustin Welch, a friend of Wilson's and St. Marks' cousin, testified Wednesday he was nearby when he heard Wilson call for help after he was stabbed. It was Welch who called the police.

Officer Dylan Kulla, who was the first to respond, and Havre Fire Department Captain Cody McLain, who arrived on the scene after Kulla, both testified to the large amount of blood they saw on the scene.

"I thought he was going to die there," Kulla had said.

"We seen a guy lying on the porch in a pool of blood," McLain had said.

McLain said he called a code trauma - only the second time he had ever done so in his 12 years as an EMT - notifying the emergency room staff at Northern Montana Hospital the situation was dire and "all hands on deck" were needed.

Wilson had three stab wounds, one under his left armpit. It was so severe it punctured his lung and he had to have his lung reinflated. He said he lost two liters of blood and spent days in the intensive care unit.

Cole-Hodgkinson played a video Wednesday of Havre Police Department Detective Brian Cassidy interviewing St. Marks hours after the stabbing. In the video, St. Marks says he doesn't remember anything past a certain time early Sept. 17 because he had been drinking heavily.

"Everything is just a blur - I got glimpses - spots throughout the whole night when I'm coming to and then I'm gone," St. Marks says.

When Cassidy tells St. Marks that Wilson had been stabbed and he is the suspect, St. Marks acts surprised and then says he is worried about his friends' recovery.

The next day, Thursday, St. Marks testified that anything he said in the video interview with Cassidy that had to do with him remembering or knowing anything about the stabbing was a lie. Whenever he said "I don't remember," he said, it was lie.

The truth is he stabbed Wilson in self defense and he lied to police to keep his friend out of legal trouble and worry-free as he fought for his life, St. Marks testified.

"This is a case of self-defense," Scott told jurors Thursday.

An argument about St. Marks' and his deceased grandfather's' roofing capabilities started an argument that early morning. The argument led to a scuffle and after Wilson beat St. Marks, he then continued to follow him around the house and smack him in the head, St. Marks said.

One of Wilson's hits to the back of his head was so hard it made him see "stars," St. Marks said. At that point he became afraid for his wellbeing and that's when he grabbed the knife from the kitchen sink, intending to scare Wilson only. But he stabbed him nonetheless, and he ended up doing so multiple times because Wilson wouldn't stop attacking him.