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SALT LAKE CITY — A 73-year-old man was found guilty of murder on Friday after testifying in his jury trial that he stabbed the man staying at his home in self-defense.
Edward Jay Kennedy, of South Salt Lake, was found guilty of murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, a third-degree felony.
After hearing evidence over two days of trial, the jury determined Kennedy was guilty and that he did not act with imperfect self-defense, meaning he did not believe he was defending himself when he killed 27-year-old Riley Nagle.
'No justification'
Samuel Sutton, deputy Salt Lake County attorney, said in interviews with police the night of the Sept. 2, 2020, killing, Kennedy showed a stabbing motion eight separate times as he talked about taking the knife and hitting Nagle. He used the word "bam" multiple times and said he hit "as hard as I could." He told police he thought he killed Nagle using Nagle's own knife.
"I stabbed the guy, and I said, 'Man, I'm in big trouble,'" he told police.
Sutton said Kennedy told the police at the time that Nagle was asleep and was not a threat. He said a bloodstain in the middle of the bed shows Nagle was in the middle of the bed when he was stabbed. He said the only story that made sense is Kennedy stabbed Nagle with the knife using his good hand, because Nagle was healthy and Kennedy was not.
"Kennedy specifically tells police where the knife was, when he picked it up and what he did with it," he said.
In a recording played from after police arrived, Kennedy talked about moving Nagle's garbage out of the house and accused Nagle of taking his cellphone.
"There was no justification for what Edward Kennedy did. He knew it at the time," Sutton said.
The attorney said Kennedy lost his phone and then spun the situation into something that was Nagle's fault. He said video shows Kennedy pacing in his front room "spinning out delusions" and using the term "crackheads," but he said Nagle "was no crackhead."
Sutton said Kennedy should have stepped back and thought before acting; he said Kennedy was worked up about knives, but no other knives were found at the scene — just the one used to kill Nagle.
Jason Lozano, the doctor who performed the autopsy on Nagle (who arrived at Lozano's office with the knife still in his chest), said Nagle had no defensive wounds. He said that could be because Nagle was intoxicated.
'It happened so fast'
Kennedy testified he met Nagle shortly after Nagle had been kicked out of a neighboring home. He said Nagle did not sleep on a bed or chair but on a rug by the air conditioning unit. He said Nagle would stay over one or two nights a week over a period of a few months.
On Sept. 2, 2020, he said Nagle had been acting differently, he brought large backpacks he didn't have before, showed Kennedy two or three knives, took a shower at Kennedy's home, and laid down on Kennedy's bed. He also said he had used Nagle's phone, something he had done before but, this time, wouldn't give it back —Kennedy said he hid it.
Kennedy said he threw Nagle's backpacks out of the house, thinking the knives were in them, and then went into his bedroom to confront Nagle, when he found Nagle sitting on the edge of the bed with a knife in his hand.
"It happened so fast, he had that knife, that third knife in his hand, that — I didn't have no time to get scared or anything or afraid, it just happened so fast, boom," he testified.
He repeated similar statements multiple times in his testimony and said he went outside to find a phone to call police.
During his cross examination, Sutton asked him about how he got the knife from Nagle. At first, he said Nagle's hands were still on the knife, too, but then he backtracked, saying he doesn't remember the details.
When asked by Sutton why he didn't mention things happening quickly or the knife being in Nagle's hand that night, Kennedy's response was, "I don't know; you tell me."
'The right questions weren't asked'
Kennedy's attorney, Michael Misner, said Kennedy is disabled and relied on someone else to handle his mother and take care of him. At the time of the killing, that was his sister, Maurine Traeger, who testified at trial about her role.
The attorney said three things mattered to the man: his chair, his bed and his phone — which allowed him to talk to his sister each day. He said all anyone would need to do is take Kennedy's phone, and Kennedy would lose control, calling it "the playbook." He said Nagle telling Kennedy he was going to sleep in his bed was also part of "the playbook."
He said Kennedy was not evil, and it was clear he did not understand the situation unfolding. Misner said the interview was confusing, and there were problems with the interview and search.
"I'm telling you, I don't know anything. Because the right questions weren't asked, the right follow up wasn't done," he said.
"The more I talked, the more I got myself in trouble," Kennedy said. "I didn't realize I was saying all that stuff. I mean, it was cold."
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 4.
