Christopher Hunter lifted his 1-year-old daughter in his arms on a warm night in May, moments after emptying a clip of a handgun magazine into a man while she watched.
“I pick up my daughter, I give her a kiss and I tell her I might be going to jail tonight,” Hunter, of Akron, testified in court on Friday morning.
On trial this week for charges of aggravated murder, Hunter, 27, readily admitted to a jury that he killed 24-year-old Marlon Gibson on May 25.
What Hunter’s attorneys dispute is why he killed Gibson. They hope the story of a love triangle will be enough to convince the jury Hunter shouldn’t spend his life in prison.
The jury was handed the case on Friday afternoon. The jury deliberated until 5 p.m. before going home. Deliberations will continue on Monday.
According to testimony at trial, Hunter and Gibson each fathered a child with 23-year-old Diamond Christian, but she left Hunter for Gibson months before the shooting. The night Hunter killed Gibson, he told the jury he went to check on Christian and his daughter because he suspected Gibson was abusing them. The allegation of abuse was hotly debated at trial.
Hunter said he knocked on the door to Christian’s Edmeyer Court apartment and was met at the door by Gibson. Gibson, who answered the door wearing just boxer shorts, told Hunter that Christian didn’t want to talk to him.
Hunter testified that he returned to his vehicle to take another swig of Hennessy cognac. A short time later, Gibson exited the home after getting dressed. He told Christian he was going outside to smoke, but defense attorneys said they believe he was going outside to make trouble.
“When I turn around, he’s out of the house looking reckless with his hands in his pocket, biting his lip,” said Hunter, adding that he felt threatened.
He brought a gun to the scene, he said, because he felt unsafe there.
Hunter said Gibson charged at him, so he responded by opening fire.
He said his anger and fear took hold, and he kept squeezing the trigger. He followed Gibson after he fled back into the apartment, all the while shooting. Gibson died in his bedroom, where he was discovered with about nine gunshot wounds to the neck, back and elsewhere. The entire gunfight lasted seconds.
“It shouldn’t never happened,” Hunter said on the stand.
Hunter’s attorney, Kerry O’Brien, asked him why he kept firing.
“Because I was still scared and I was still mad,” Hunter said.
Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Greg Peacock, though, doubted Hunter’s story.
During cross-examination, Peacock pressed Hunter on whether alcohol clouded his judgment. Hunter said no.
He told Peacock he didn’t go there that night to kill Gibson. But after seeing Gibson there, in his underwear, rage set in.
“You’ve said before that prior to that night, you didn’t have a problem with Marlon Gibson,” Peacock said. “Just seeing him in the apartment that night was enough to trigger this anger and hatred. Enough to kill him?”
After a pause, Hunter responded: “Yes.”
“All he really did was walk outside his apartment with his hand in his pocket, which people do,” Peacock said later. “And for you, that was enough to shoot him?”
Again, Hunter said: “Yes.”
While unloading a clip of ammunition into Gibson, Hunter’s gun at one point jammed. Prosecutors said it showed intent when he reloaded the gun to continue firing.
Prosecutors also doubted the story that Gibson rushed Hunter once he got outside. During opening and closing arguments, they said Hunter shot Gibson near the apartment door — not near Hunter’s car, as he alleged.
During closing arguments, though, Hunter’s attorney said it’s clear that Gibson went outside to stir up trouble.
“He didn’t go outside to smoke a cigarette,” O’Brien said. “There was going to be a dust-up outside and Mr. Gibson was going to make sure of it.”
He said testimony at trial revealed Gibson usually smoked in the bedroom. Also, Christian allegedly told Gibson not to “start any trouble.”
O’Brien blamed Gibson for causing his own death.
“If Marlon Gibson hadn’t gone to that back room and changed his clothes, let his ego and his image run away, we might not be here today,” he said.
But Peacock said ultimately it doesn’t matter why Hunter killed Gibson — just that he did it.
“Christopher Hunter made the choice to kill another human being. He chose to end a life,” he said. “Marlon Gibson wanted to live. He tried to survive.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook @JournoNickGlunt .