A man charged with murder and attempted murder said Thursday that he acted in self-defence.
Michael James Bartley, 36, is facing two charges of first-degree murder in the March 16, 2010 deaths of Owen Thompson, 48, and Darren Hala, 45, and one count each of attempted murder and aggravated assault in an alleged attack on Thompson's common law wife, Cheryl Steeves, 48.
On the trial's first day, Steeves testified Bartley slashed her throat and stabbed her repeatedly with a 13-inch hunting knife during a drug-related killing spree at the ranch she and Thompson owned about 100 kilometres south of Prince George.
But Bartley gave a decidedly different story Thursday, testifying he acted in self defence after Thompson became agitated when Bartley, who was buying marijuana they had been growing in an outbuilding on the ranch, declined to come back a week later to pick up another shipment.
Bartley had brought $17,500 in cash with him from his home in Paradise Valley, Alta. and Thompson said he owed Hala, who was working on the ranch as a helping hand, about $30,000 because he had been paying most of the bills at the ranch.
When Bartley said he could not return so quickly, Thompson attacked him with a pocketknife, Bartley told the court. A scuffled ensued that left Thompson limp and on the ground and Bartley scared and confused, the court heard.
"I was fearing for my life," Bartley said. "I don't know why my friend was trying to attack me."
The late-night confrontation continued, according to Bartley, when he heard someone, possibly Hala, coming down the front stairs of the house as he was getting up off the ground and raised the knife.
"I put it up, swiped it in a defensive manner and the person yelled 'Cheryl, get the guns' and then ran off into the bush," Bartley said.
"I turned around and looked inside the door. She was coming through the door with a handgun in her hand," Bartley told the court, adding she was holding the gun upright like she was ready to shoot.
Bartley said he went towards her and slashed at her to try and get the gun away. When he was successful, Bartley said she ran back inside and he retreated away from the house.
"I yelled 'Cheryl, why are you guys trying to do this to me?'" Bartley said.
When she didn't answer, Bartley said he went inside the house where he saw her lying on the floor. He said he left the gun outside but was still carrying the knife.
When Steeves pleaded for her life, Bartley said he told her he wasn't trying to kill her and then tried to find an address for the farm to give when he called emergency services.
Bartley said he went into the home's computer room and rummaged around for a bill with an address other than a post office box. When he was unable to get the computer turned on to use Skype, "with all the adrenalin that was going on, I kicked the modem and unfortunately I ripped the cables out of the back of it."
Bartley testified that he took along a friend for the trip from Paradise Valley to keep him awake. But the friend drank most of a 750 ml bottle of vodka, Bartley told the court, and was asleep inside his pickup truck for most of the time at the ranch.
Bartley said he retreated to his vehicle, picking up the gun Steeves dropped along the way, and threw both weapons out the window as he drove away. Bartley said he intended to drive into Prince George to notify the police and ambulance service but instead kept on going because his friend told him "we needed to think about it and just get out of there."
Steeves, who was taking in the testimony from the gallery, became increasingly distraught and walked out at one point.
"Keep lying," she told Bartley as she left the courtroom.
In taped interviews heard by the court earlier in the trial, Bartley told police he owed a $200,000 debt for cocaine, was planning to meet a man named Earl to transport 10 kilograms of the drug, and that the people he owed the money to had threatened his wife and children.
Bartley told police he was supposed to meet up with one of those people near Prince George. Instead, they encountered him at the edge of Thompson and Steeves' property, where he was told to kill the couple and Hala.
On the stand Thursday, Bartley confirmed he told police all those things but said none of them were true.
"Did you, at any time, have a plan to kill Owen, Darren and Cheryl?" Fowler asked.
"No, I did not," Bartley replied.
Cross examination is expected to begin today.
