Defendant says girlfriend’s death was sex accident
Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/45907/
Brandon Sanders testified Friday that he did not intend to kill his girlfriend, April Love, when he put a plastic trash bag over her head while they had sex in the back seat of her car.
He said he put the bag over her head to enhance the sexual experience on Sept. 11, 2005, and, at some point, realized she had passed out.
“ Her body just kind of went limp, ” said Sanders, 21, of Nashville, Ark., accused of first-degree murder in Love’s death.
Sanders testified that his belt had been around his own neck at some point in the sexual activity.
He said the two had engaged in this kind of activity at other times.
“ I wouldn’t have done anything if she wasn’t willing, ” he said upon direct examination by his defense attorney, Q. Byrum Hurst of Hot Springs.
Love, 20, a University of Arkansas student from Hope, was found last Sept. 15 in the locked bedroom of her Garden Park Apartment.
The Arkansas State Medical Examiner ruled that she died from asphyxiation. Forensic pathologist Dr. Adam Craig confirmed this cause Friday, adding that it was by undetermined means.
Dr. Stephen Hucker, forensic psychiatrist from Ontario, Canada, who has studied sexual asphyxia, testified that the nature of the death and discussion with Sanders this week were consistent with Love dying via sexual asphyxiation.
Sanders told jurors that he tore the trash bag away from Love while they were still in the car and tried to wake her up. He said he called 911 but did not get through for some reason.
Phone records entered into evidence indicate that somebody had tried to call 911 from Love’s mobile phone at 11: 42 p. m. the night she died.
Sanders said he shouted at Love, “ but nothing was happening. ”
“ At the time, I was in panic mode, ” he said.
Both were nearly nude, he said, so he drove to her apartment.
He said he put the trash bag around Love’s waist because she was only in her underwear, and he carried her to her apartment.
He said he did not want to call the police.
“ They were going to think I killed her, ” he said. “ I just knew what it looked like and it looked really, really bad. ”
He said he did not know what to do once he got Love’s body up to her apartment.
He said he fell asleep and sat with Love for several hours until he finally went to a nearby grocery store to meet his friend, Rachel Hawkins. He said he had thought about telling Hawkins what had happened.
“ Part of me wanted to go tell someone, ” he said. “ I didn’t feel like she was the one for me to tell. ”
He said he did not want anybody to go in the apartment and see Love in her underwear.
“ I couldn’t leave her like that, ” he said.
So, he said, before he left to meet Hawkins, he wrapped Love in sheets and a comforter.
He denied putting cotton balls in the body wrappings. He also denied putting vegetable oil on Love. Craig had testified that cotton balls were removed from the body bag. The oil had been found on her body.
Sanders admitted using Love’s phone to answer text messages from friends and her father when they could not reach her.
Sanders said he loved Love and that they had planned marriage and children upon her college graduation. He admitted their relationship was “ on again, off again” and included seeing other people while they were away from each other.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Matt Durrett asked Sanders if he had admitted killing Love.
“ No one killed anybody, sir. It was all an accident, ” Sanders said.
“ April’s dead, is she not ? And she’s dead because you put a bag over her head. Is that not correct ? That’s your story, ” Durrett said.
Sanders said they were intimate and she passed out.
“ I still can’t explain it. It’s just something that happened, ” he said.
Durrett asked him if he ever told anyone about having engaged in this type of sexual activity.
“ I never told anyone about my sex life, ” Sanders said.
He denied telling Hawkins that he and Love had been arguing that weekend and that Love had slapped him. He also denied telling his friend Ryan Morbley that he choked her.
Morbley testified that he picked Sanders up at the Texarkana bus station after the weekend with Love.
He said they went to a park and Sanders told him Love was dead, that they had gotten into an argument, she tried to run Sanders over with her car, she started choking him, he choked her and “ squeezed too hard. ”
The defense pointed out in cross examination that Morbley gave four different statements.
The defense and prosecution rested Friday.
Closing arguments are set for Monday, when the case is expected to be given to the jury.