A Kearns teenager attacked with a medieval battle ax outside his home last summer was targeted because he supposedly passed a sexually transmitted disease to a girl that one of his accused assailants later slept with, a defense attorney claimed Tuesday.
Attorney Scott Wilson told a 3rd District Court jury that Cody Jesse Augustine, 21, was angry he contracted an STD from a girlfriend and believed that 18-year-old Justin Ennis was the source of the disease.
That lead Augustine to convince friend Scott Tyler Stapley, 22, to unleash an assault on Ennis after the two friends had spent the night drinking, Wilson said during opening arguments of Stapley's attempted murder trial.
The bizarre attack left Ennis with severe injuries including a 8-inch laceration in his neck, a 10 1/2 -inch laceration in his left pectoral muscle and smaller cuts on his shoulder and hands, according to charging documents.
Augustine and Stapley are charged with one count of first-degree felony attempted murder with injury in connection with the incident in the early morning hours of July 29 at 4541 W. 5780 South. The two are being tried separately.
Ennis on Tuesday described a series of text messages he received from his attackers, who posed as a girl named "Stacy" to lure him outside around 4:30 a.m. Ennis said he believed he was meeting Stacy for "a booty call," when his assailants jumped out of a brown Nissan 200 SX.
Ennis testified Stapley slashed his neck and shoulder with a four-bladed warrior ax and was later stabbed with a knife several times by Augustine. Ennis was then able to go into his parents' house, where he told them he needed help and laid in a bathtub bleeding until paramedics arrived, he said.
Wilson argued Monday Stapley got roped into going along with Augustine to Ennis' house and did not intend to carry out the attack.
He said Stapley had initially balked at going to Ennis' house, but changed his mind after listening to his friend complain of pain while urinating and decided to be Augustine's back-up man.
Stapley told jurors his client is guilty of aggravated assault, not attempted murder.
Police have said Stapley and Augustine are members of the Juggalos, a group the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Metro Gang Task Force identifies as a gang. Juggalos are known to follow the rap group Insane Clown Posse.
Detectives recovered a necklace with a "hatchet man,"an emblem associated with the Juggalos, from the crime scene and found the emblem again on the Nissan Stapley was driving when arrested, Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy Esekia Afatasi testified.
In the courtroom, Ennis removed his shirt to display his scars from the attack to jurors. He said doctors told him he'd been struck 12 times with the battle ax. The assault also perforated the teen's bowel, and doctors had to remove two inches of the teen's colon, according to charging documents.
Wilson questioned whether Ennis had bragged about the assault to his friends after discovering the teenager had posted a topless photo of himself on social networking site MySpace.com.
Ennis, however, testified he'd put the photos of his scars on MySpace because friends were curious and some hadn't been able to visit him in the hospital. A BMX rider, Ennis said he has lasting injuries from the attack including problems with his left shoulder.
The second day of Stapley's trial starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday before Judge Judith Atherton. Augustine's next court date is a scheduling hearing on Jan.23.
