Murder suspect claims self-defense

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ELLSWORTH – Edwin Graham, accused of murdering a Tremont man last December, took the stand in his own defense Friday and detailed the fight that took place in and outside his trailer and resulted in the death of Zachary Savoy.

Graham said Savoy attacked him inside his trailer after Graham had thrown away some marijuana Savoy had brought into the trailer. He calmly described the fight in which he said he repeatedly tried to keep Savoy away from him.

After Savoy threw the first punch, Graham said, Graham punched him in the face, hard enough to draw blood.

“I was scared at that point. I didn’t know what he was capable of,” Graham told the jury. “He started coming back toward me. I hit him really hard. There was a spray of blood. Some of it landed in my hair. There was enough blood to get my attention.”

Savoy kept coming at him, despite Graham throwing several “tae kwon do” kicks at Savoy that hit him in the head and chest, he said. Graham said at that point he was trying to get Savoy out of the trailer, but that Savoy was holding onto the sides of the door and resisted being pushed out.

“I kicked him in the chest and knocked him into the mud room,” he said.

More blows were exchanged in the mudroom, he said, and he finally tried a sweep kick to knock Savoy’s feet from under him. The kick was partially successful, he said, and Savoy crashed through the door in the mudroom and out onto the deck area. There, Graham said, he delivered a series of kicks to the head, including a spin kick, which, he admitted, was designed to “create damage.”

The kick knocked Savoy from the deck to the ground, Graham said. But Savoy, although bleeding from the head and lips, with one eye closed, attempted to come back up the stairs. At that point, Graham said, he picked up a baseball bat.

“He was still coming at me and tried to come up the stairs,” he said. “I brought the bat out and swung in a downward motion. I aimed for the head. It hit him on the bridge of his face. His nose started bleeding and he went down. The bat broke.”

The handle of the bat remained in his hand, but the wider portion of the bat that broke off flew up and hit Graham in the head, he said.

At that point, Graham said, he did not think Savoy would get up from that blow and he decided to go to a neighbor’s house for help. He walked past Savoy, who was on the ground near a car parked in the driveway.

“I heard snow crunching behind me. I thought, ‘Oh God, this kid is getting back up,'” he said. “That scared me. I didn’t know whether to turn around or not.”

He turned as Savoy reached him, Graham said, and was struck in the same area where the bat had hit him.

“Everything went red. I felt my world leaving me … the world went black,” he said. “I vaguely remember throwing him toward my mother’s car. That’s the last memory I have.”

He testified that when he woke up, he saw “the mess,” and tried to help Savoy, turning him over so he could breathe more easily. He said he then went to a neighbor’s to get help. He made no mention of his pocketknife, except to say that he found it open on the ground after he came to.

In addition to the beating and kicking that Savoy received, he had been stabbed five times. Testimony identified Graham’s knife as the knife that had inflicted those wounds.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Andrew Benson, Graham admitted that he originally had told police that Savoy had hit him first with the bat.

“I was concerned about going back to jail,” he said.

Although Graham testified that he has a “long fuse” and that it takes a lot to get him angry, he admitted that he had attended anger management classes as part of treatment for alcohol abuse and that he had stopped attending the sessions because he did not have the money to continue.

“I should have continued,” he said.

The only time during testimony that Graham lost his composure was when he described his concern that Savoy might attack him and take advantage of him sexually. He explained that that was something he has been overcautious about.

“There were incidents with my brother when I was younger,” he said tearfully. “He knocked me out and did things that weren’t right. That’s something I’ve been scared of in life.”

Previously, psychologist Geoffrey Thorpe had testified that the fear of being raped might have triggered a detached psychological state during the night of the fight with Savoy.

On Friday, Graham testified that Savoy had made what he interpreted as a sexual pass at him while the two men talked in Graham’s trailer. According to Graham’s testimony, however, the fight did not begin until Graham, after repeatedly asking Savoy not to smoke marijuana in his trailer and to leave, threw the pot into the trash.

Testimony from a state blood pattern analysis expert earlier in the day indicated that Zachary Savoy had been low to the ground while he was being beaten outside Graham’s trailer and that Graham had been standing. Blood patterns indicated that Graham was very close to Savoy when blood spattered on his clothing, according to Detective Herbert Leighton.

Savoy’s mother, Deborah Savoy, also testified Friday, recounting a brief history of her son’s life. She broke down when Benson asked her to identify a photo of her son, taken about a year ago.

“That’s my son Zachary,” she said through the tears.

Although closing arguments are expected Monday, Justice Donald Marden told jurors that the prosecution has a right to rebuttal and that more evidence could be submitted at that time.

Before Graham’s testimony, Marden denied a motion by defense attorney Stephen Juskewitch to acquit Graham on all charges.