Hoffman man claims self defense in fatal stabbing with medieval dagger
The trial of Joseph Biedermann, charged with first-degree murder in the March 2008 death of his Hoffman Estates neighbor Terrance Hauser Jr., began Tuesday in Rolling Meadows with Biedermann claiming he acted in self-defense.
"There's no question about it: he stabbed Hauser. The question is, 'Why?'" said defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. in his opening statement, saying Biedermann was fending off a threatened sexual assault.
Biedermann, 30, of the 2100 block of Hassell Road in the Barrington Lakes apartment complex, is accused of stabbing Hauser 61 times with a medieval dagger in the early morning of March 5, 2008 in Hauser's apartment in the 2200 block of Hassell Road in the same complex.
"Terrance never stood a chance," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Clarke said in his opening statement.
"The last thing Terrance Hauser saw before he died was this man, standing over him, plunging a dagger into him over, and over, and over and over," said Clarke as he stood behind and pointed to Biedermann.
The prosecution called five witnesses Tuesday, including Hauser's mother, the first police officer on the scene and three members of the Major Case Assistance Team, composed of officers from 22 municipalities.
Clarke acknowledged there were no witnesses, but "the crime scene is extremely telling," he said, adding the scene contained no signs of a struggle. Adam said a struggle did occur between the two men, leading Biedermann to kill Hauser, 38, in self-defense.
After meeting for the first time at a neighborhood bar about 1:30 a.m. the morning of the murder, the two went to Hauser's apartment, where Biedermann passed out. Adam said Biedermann awoke to find Hauser standing over him with a four-foot-long medieval sword at his throat, threatening him with sexual assault.
Much of the testimony involved analysis of blood stains within Hauser's apartment and a trail of blood that connected the two men's apartments.
Brian Vivona, an Elk Grove Village police officer and forensic scientist for M.C.A.T., testified he documented the blood patterns within Hauser's apartment in the hours after the crime.
Red stains on the love seat Hauser was found leaning against tested positive for blood saturation, he said, while some blood drops on the floor indicated a bleeding person was moving toward the door to the hallway.
Judge Thomas P. Fecarotta also admitted as evidence 15 photos of Biedermann taken by Hoffman Estates Police March 8, 2008. The photos showed the defendant had a scratch on his right bicep, cuts on both forearms and a few minor scratches on his hands, but no injuries to either side of his neck.
While Clarke said Biedermann received treatment at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates after the incident, he portrayed the injuries as a "tiny cut on his right arm the size of a fingernail." Adam said Biedermann's injuries were serious enough to drip blood between Hauser's apartment and his own.
"Joey's blood was the trail," Adam said in his opening statement. "The only blood that was Hauser's was on the tip of the dagger."
Michael Heidkamp, a Des Plaines police officer and forensic technician with the major crimes assistance team, testified he tested 13 of about 40 visible drops of blood found in the parking lot between the two apartments. All 13 samples tested positive as blood, though Heidkamp was not able to say whose blood it was.
Testimony continues this morning in Rolling Meadows courtroom 109.
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