rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
09-21-2007, 10:02 PM
Obviously a reasonable argument can be made that all the vodka he
consumed was at least as responsible as the LSD he took. However,
officially this is a murder where LSD abuse was involved.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/news/uniontown/s_128526.html
Defendant claims he can't remember brutal slaying
By Dwayne Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 10, 2003
UNIONTOWN - A Uniontown man told a Fayette County jury Wednesday he was
"scared" when he slashed and stabbed Christopher "Bubby" Kiss 35 times,
killing him.
Nathaniel L. Stites Jr. testified that, after a night of heavy drinking
and drug use, he reached for the folding lock-blade knife he typically
carried in the front pocket of his jeans "and I just started swinging it
to get him off me."
But District Attorney Nancy Vernon contended Stites' recollection of the
gory assault early on the morning of Oct. 19, 2001, was selectively
spotty under her cross-examination of his testimony.
Stites, 25, is on trial for the murder of Kiss, 22, who bled to death in
the kitchen of his public housing residence on Coolspring Street after
suffering 35 knife wounds to nearly every area of his upper body.
From the witness stand yesterday, Stites described the evening before
the murder as a night packed with substance abuse.
According to his testimony, he drank about a dozen double-shot vodka and
orange juice "screwdrivers," consumed "four or five hits" of LSD, and
smoked a marijuana cigarette and several doses of crack cocaine.
Stites' former fiancee - Rhenda Sutton, 29, of Fairchance - testified
that on the evening before the murder, he had been drinking at several
bars and also smoked marijuana and crack cocaine before going to see
Kiss to get more drugs in the early morning hours.
"I had known for a long time that he had a problem," said Sutton, who
supplied money for Stites' substance abuse and drove him to buy his
first $40 worth of crack that night at Kiss' home.
For his second dose, "he took the money out of my pants pocket," said
Sutton, who described the victim as "Nathan's drug dealer."
Stites went to Kiss' home a third time around 3 a.m. "I was really going
to Bubby's to get more crack," he said, admitting he was out of money.
"We (he and Kiss) walked into the kitchen and he got the crack, but I
told him I would need fronted until tomorrow," Stites said. "I didn't
think it would be a problem. He had fronted me before."
But Kiss "seemed a little mad 'cause I woke him up," he said. "We
started arguing and he pushed me down. I was on my back and he straddled
over me with his hand on my throat. Then he had a gun to my throat."
Police have reported no firearms were found at the crime scene, and
there was no mention of a gun in his initial statements to police.
Stites claimed he didn't remember talking to police after the killing,
or signing a waiver of his Miranda rights, or giving a taped statement
admitting to the crime.
He also couldn't remember why he threw away the bag that contained his
bloody clothing and hid beneath a bed in a camper in Fairchance, or what
kind of gun Kiss allegedly had pointed at him.
Yet he testified that he had pulled off Kiss' sole clothing - a pair of
blue boxer shorts - trying to hold him back from retrieving the gun
after Kiss allegedly dropped it.
"If he had a gun on you, why didn't he shoot you?" Vernon asked.
"I don't know," Stites replied.
"You remember what you want to remember," the district attorney said.
"Can you tell me why your memory is selective?"
"I'm not sure," Stites said.
"Was he (Kiss) screaming when you cut his head and throat to the bone?"
Vernon asked. "Was he still gasping for breath when you left?"
"I don't recall," Stites said.
"Where you aware that his (Kiss') 1-year-old son was in the next room
while you were killing his father?" Vernon asked. "Or that he and his
fiancee were expecting another child?"
"No, I was not," Stites answered.
Earlier, he had testified about eating pizza at Bud Murphy's in
Connellsville with Sutton and his own son, who was 6 years old at the
time. He also recalled that "me and my old lady made love" after he had
smoked his first dose of crack that night.
"You recall a lot of other details," Vernon said. "You remember
everything you had to eat and drink and what drugs you took that night,
but you don't remember stabbing someone 35 times?"
"You were covered with blood, weren't you, Mr. Stites?" she asked.
"That's what they say, yes," he said.
Yet during direct testimony just minutes earlier, Stites had said: "I
remember standing in the street in blood-soaked clothes with the knife
in my hand."
"When you took a shower, you still didn't get all the blood off, did
you?" Vernon asked.
"I don't know," said Stites, who remains in the Fayette County Prison
without bond.
The prosecution and defense counsel both rested their cases yesterday.
The jury will hear closing arguments this morning and will then be
charged by Common Pleas Judge Ralph C. Warman before starting
deliberations.
consumed was at least as responsible as the LSD he took. However,
officially this is a murder where LSD abuse was involved.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/news/uniontown/s_128526.html
Defendant claims he can't remember brutal slaying
By Dwayne Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 10, 2003
UNIONTOWN - A Uniontown man told a Fayette County jury Wednesday he was
"scared" when he slashed and stabbed Christopher "Bubby" Kiss 35 times,
killing him.
Nathaniel L. Stites Jr. testified that, after a night of heavy drinking
and drug use, he reached for the folding lock-blade knife he typically
carried in the front pocket of his jeans "and I just started swinging it
to get him off me."
But District Attorney Nancy Vernon contended Stites' recollection of the
gory assault early on the morning of Oct. 19, 2001, was selectively
spotty under her cross-examination of his testimony.
Stites, 25, is on trial for the murder of Kiss, 22, who bled to death in
the kitchen of his public housing residence on Coolspring Street after
suffering 35 knife wounds to nearly every area of his upper body.
From the witness stand yesterday, Stites described the evening before
the murder as a night packed with substance abuse.
According to his testimony, he drank about a dozen double-shot vodka and
orange juice "screwdrivers," consumed "four or five hits" of LSD, and
smoked a marijuana cigarette and several doses of crack cocaine.
Stites' former fiancee - Rhenda Sutton, 29, of Fairchance - testified
that on the evening before the murder, he had been drinking at several
bars and also smoked marijuana and crack cocaine before going to see
Kiss to get more drugs in the early morning hours.
"I had known for a long time that he had a problem," said Sutton, who
supplied money for Stites' substance abuse and drove him to buy his
first $40 worth of crack that night at Kiss' home.
For his second dose, "he took the money out of my pants pocket," said
Sutton, who described the victim as "Nathan's drug dealer."
Stites went to Kiss' home a third time around 3 a.m. "I was really going
to Bubby's to get more crack," he said, admitting he was out of money.
"We (he and Kiss) walked into the kitchen and he got the crack, but I
told him I would need fronted until tomorrow," Stites said. "I didn't
think it would be a problem. He had fronted me before."
But Kiss "seemed a little mad 'cause I woke him up," he said. "We
started arguing and he pushed me down. I was on my back and he straddled
over me with his hand on my throat. Then he had a gun to my throat."
Police have reported no firearms were found at the crime scene, and
there was no mention of a gun in his initial statements to police.
Stites claimed he didn't remember talking to police after the killing,
or signing a waiver of his Miranda rights, or giving a taped statement
admitting to the crime.
He also couldn't remember why he threw away the bag that contained his
bloody clothing and hid beneath a bed in a camper in Fairchance, or what
kind of gun Kiss allegedly had pointed at him.
Yet he testified that he had pulled off Kiss' sole clothing - a pair of
blue boxer shorts - trying to hold him back from retrieving the gun
after Kiss allegedly dropped it.
"If he had a gun on you, why didn't he shoot you?" Vernon asked.
"I don't know," Stites replied.
"You remember what you want to remember," the district attorney said.
"Can you tell me why your memory is selective?"
"I'm not sure," Stites said.
"Was he (Kiss) screaming when you cut his head and throat to the bone?"
Vernon asked. "Was he still gasping for breath when you left?"
"I don't recall," Stites said.
"Where you aware that his (Kiss') 1-year-old son was in the next room
while you were killing his father?" Vernon asked. "Or that he and his
fiancee were expecting another child?"
"No, I was not," Stites answered.
Earlier, he had testified about eating pizza at Bud Murphy's in
Connellsville with Sutton and his own son, who was 6 years old at the
time. He also recalled that "me and my old lady made love" after he had
smoked his first dose of crack that night.
"You recall a lot of other details," Vernon said. "You remember
everything you had to eat and drink and what drugs you took that night,
but you don't remember stabbing someone 35 times?"
"You were covered with blood, weren't you, Mr. Stites?" she asked.
"That's what they say, yes," he said.
Yet during direct testimony just minutes earlier, Stites had said: "I
remember standing in the street in blood-soaked clothes with the knife
in my hand."
"When you took a shower, you still didn't get all the blood off, did
you?" Vernon asked.
"I don't know," said Stites, who remains in the Fayette County Prison
without bond.
The prosecution and defense counsel both rested their cases yesterday.
The jury will hear closing arguments this morning and will then be
charged by Common Pleas Judge Ralph C. Warman before starting
deliberations.