Kristopher Guenther testifies in own defence
Posted Mar 11, 2015 1:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Calgary man accused of first-degree murder in the death of his 20-year old girlfriend has testified in his own defence Wednesday.
32-year-old Kristopher (Tray) Guenther has told the court his relationship with Lacey Jones-McKnight became rocky after he started talking about suicide, and admitted to seeing another girl.
Guenther testified, the night Lacey died in October, 2012, they got into an argument and he tried to subdue her.
When she spit in his face, however, he “snapped” and put her in a choke hold. He says they fell backward and that’s when she lost consciousness.
Guenther testified he didn’t notice until after that she had turned blue.
He claims he panicked and thought about taking her to hospital. He wrapped her in a blanket, but she was already dead.
Jones-McKnight’s body was found in Guenther’s car after he attempted suicide by trying to hang himself from an overpass.
Other witnesses have testified he drove across the city with her body, even showing it to a former girlfriend and admitting to Lacey’s mother that he had killed her daughter. She spoke outside court, saying his testimony is only hurting himself.
During cross-examination, the Crown challenged Guenther on his statement that he wasn’t expecting Jones-McKnight to come over to his home the night he killed her.
The prosecution showed text messages from him to an ex-girlfriend claiming he had received a text from Lacey, saying she wanted to go over.
Other texts to an ex-girlfriend say he felt like he was going to snap and he wanted a gun to end his misery.
They also challenged his version of when he went to Jones’ home asking Shelly to kill him with a knife.
When Shelly refused, Guenther said it was only at the end of the conversation that she asked where Lacey was and he responded by saying she was dead.
The Crown said Jones repeatedly asked where Lacey was, but Guenther said it was at the end.
The day ended with the playing of an audio tape of the ex to 911, crying as she told the operator that Guenther had told her that he had killed Lacey.
The trial is expected to wrap up this week.
