After fatally stabbing his girlfriend last June, Michael Huguley testified Tuesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court that the act was in self-defense, claiming she stabbed him first.
Huguley, 37, is facing several charges, including aggravated murder, after killing girlfriend Jasmine Williams, 31, in their Alphada Avenue apartment in Akron. The trial started last week. Closing arguments were held Tuesday after Huguley’s testimony. Jury deliberations will begin Wednesday.
Williams’ friend who witnessed the incident, Destiny Daniels, testified that Huguley stabbed Williams after an argument about his seeing their year-old child.
Daniels said she tried to stop Huguley, but he threw her to the side, stabbed Williams and himself multiple times, and fled.
In his testimony, however, Huguley said the act was self-defense after his girlfriend stabbed him first.
“He’s not making himself look perfect,” said Joseph Gorman, one of Huguley’s defense attorneys, in his closing arguments. “He’s honest with you about who he is as a person.”
Huguley said he had felt distant from Williams for some time, and the night before the incident, he decided to move out of the apartment they shared, which was under his name, for financial reasons.
On June 23, 2015, he was packing his and Williams’ clothes when Williams came home, and the two started arguing.
Huguley said he went to get a beer from the fridge when Williams stabbed in him in the neck several times before he turned around, and she began stabbing his chest. Then, Huguley said, he grabbed the knife from her hand, pinned her against a wall and stabbed her, then drove to Cleveland where he lived in an abandoned house for five weeks before being arrested.
“You could’ve held that knife above your head, and she would’ve been jumping at it like a little girl,” Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi pressed the 6-foot-7 Huguley about the 5-foot-6 Williams. “You have the knife, you have the height and weight advantage, and you were still scared?”
Huguley, who testified he also stabbed himself in the neck several times during the fight with Williams, said he has a history of mental issues, including depression and suicide attempts.
LoPrinzi questioned Huguley about several instances in which his claims during direct examination deviated from those in cross examination, including the number of times Williams stabbed him and why he fled in the first place.
“He is despondent,” LoPrinzi said in his closing arguments. “He knows what he did was wrong, and that’s why he fled.”
Huguley’s defense attorneys, Eddie Sipplen and Gorman, objected multiple times to LoPrinzi’s questions. The trial became heated at times, especially before it restarted after lunch, when LoPrinzi, who had completed his cross examination, asked to play a video for the jury of the detectives’ interrogation of Huguley.
“Oh my gosh, this has devolved into kindergarten, and I’m so ashamed,” Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands said after the attorneys’ bickering lasted nearly an hour before LoPrinzi was allowed to show the video.
Williams’ parents have been in attendance throughout the trial. Ronald McCray, her father, left the courtroom distressed as Gorman began his closing argument defending Huguley.
McCray said most of their family wasn’t there because of the emotional stress Williams’ killing has caused.
“None of this makes any sense,” McCray said. “The only thing that makes sense is he murdered her.”
The jury will begin their deliberation Wednesday morning.
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom.