[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]KINGMAN – A Fort Mohave homeowner described Wednesday how he was attacked by a man with a baseball bat in the first day of the defendant’s attempted murder trial.
The trial of Erich Lee Winterton, 41, of Bullhead City, began Wednesday morning with opening statements.
He is charged with attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and criminal damage in the alleged baseball bat attack of a Fort Mohave man.
In his other case, Winterton is also charged with aggravated assault and destruction of a jail for allegedly assaulting a detection officer and breaking a window while in custody at the sheriff’s substation in Mohave Valley following his initial arrest.
In his opening statements, Deputy Mohave County Attorney Jacob Cote said the victim rented out his three-bedroom Fort Mohave home to Moneytha Diane Burns and two other people.
The victim eventually asked Burns to move out in September 2011.
Several days later Burns returned with her boyfriend, Winterton, who allegedly attempted to kill the victim as Burns trapped the homeowner inside his laundry room.
Winterton’s attorney, Brad Rideout, argued that his client was not guilty and that he was recovering from bypass surgery at the time of the attack. The defense attorney also said that Winterton was defending himself and his girlfriend from the homeowner, who he claimed approached Burns aggressively. According to the attorney, Winterton only brought the baseball bat to give to the son of one of the other tenants at the house, who was his ex-girlfriend.
Rideout also said Winterton suffered more injuries than the victim in the fight, including several missing teeth, and also suffered from a seizure when sheriff’s deputies arrived at the house following the attack.
The victim then took the stand, testifying how he gave Burns his bedroom and he slept in a makeshift bedroom in the family room. After more than a year, he told Burns to move out. Prompted by the prosecutor, he also said he saw that Winterton had two missing front teeth a week before the baseball bat attack.
The homeowner described how Burns came to his front door on the night of Sept. 8, 2011, several days after she was evicted from the home, and walked to the laundry room next to her bedroom. The victim followed her to the laundry room. It was then when he saw Winterton holding a baseball bat behind him. Using four-letter words, the defendant asked where Burns’ belongings were and said he was going to kill the homeowner, the victim testified.
The victim said he was struck in the head with the bat at least once and possibly several times, fighting off the bat with the left hand and struggling with Burns, who was trapping him from leaving, with his right hand.
Bleeding, the homeowner managed to make it into the living room where one of the other tenants protected him holding a knife. Winterton also proceeded to smash appliances in the kitchen with the bat.
Winterton was arrested in the home’s bedroom. where officers found him suffering from the seizure. He and the victim were taken to the hospital where the victim was treated for head injuries.
Burns, 42, pleaded guilty in January 2012 to aggravated assault and was sentenced a month later to 31⁄2 years in prison.
At Burns’ sentencing in February 2012, the victim told the judge that he was still suffered from neurological damage from the bat attack. Delivery buy viagra 50mg . Everywhere shop online four viagra seeming buy viagra 50mg . loves generic Viagra online yahoo answers. You going book through aВ Read Original Article Here[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]