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Leslie Palmer didn't immediately realize his partner had been stabbed.
Palmer turned and saw Richard D. Magnuson holding the right side of his abdomen, Palmer testified Wednesday. Then Magnuson sat on a couch, said "I'm bleeding," and tried to dial 911 with his cell phone.
Magnuson couldn't complete the call. He slid off the couch, Palmer testified.
"He laid on the floor in my arms and passed away," Palmer said, choking up. He and Magnuson had been partners for 11 years.
From a 3rd District Court witness stand, Palmer raised his left hand and pointed toward Ansumana Jadama as the person who had tried to enter their apartment seconds earlier.
More than two years after Magnuson's death, Jadama was in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. At its conclusion, Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman ordered Jadama, 24, to stand trial on first-degree felony counts of murder and aggravated burglary.
The case had been delayed over concerns of whether Jadama was capable of aiding in his own defense. Bernards-Goodman found Jadama, an immigrant from West Africa, incompetent for trial in February of 2014. He was sent to the Utah State Hospital, and last month Bernards-Goodman found his competency had been restored.
On Wednesday, Jadama sat silently at the defense table, usually looking down and writing on a yellow notepad.
Magnuson, 48, and Palmer had lived in their South Salt Lake apartment near 3400 S. 500 East for only a few months. Jadama lived in an adjacent apartment. Palmer testified Wednesday that shortly after they moved in, he found Jadama sitting on their patio. Palmer told him to leave.
Palmer said Magnuson had a dog, and Jadama played with it a few times, Palmer said. But in an episode a few weeks before the stabbing, Jadama accused the men of stealing his cell phone.
Then on Sept. 25, 2013, Palmer returned home from work about 7:30 p.m. Palmer said he had just sat down on his couch when there was a knock.
Magnuson offered to answer the door since Palmer had just arrived home. Palmer said that as Magnuson was opening the door, someone pushed his foot against the door and Palmer saw a black fist appear through the opening.
Magnuson pushed against the door and told the person on the other side to get out, Palmer said. The couple's dog ran outside while the door was open. Palmer pursued it, he testified, and retrieved the dog when it stopped to urinate on some flowers at the bottom of the apartment building steps.
That's when Palmer, he said, turned around and saw Magnuson holding his right side.
Utah Medical Examiner Todd Grey testified that Magnuson died at a hospital. Grey told the court that a stab wound from a single-edged knife penetrated a vein and perforated the aorta.
Grey said Magnuson had a "low toxic level" of methamphetamine in his system that could have been lethal, but it was the stabbing that killed him.
"The methamphetamine didn't help anything, but you could take away the methamphetamine and I don't think the outcome would be different," Grey said.
The hearing's final witness, South Salt Lake police Detective Chase Hermansen, said Jadama told detectives that he wanted a lawyer so he could press criminal charges against Palmer and Magnuson. Jadama accused them of burglary, and said Magnuson tried to enter his apartment.
There was a fight, Hermansen quoted Jadama as saying, during which a knife entered Magnuson. Jadama didn't know how the knife entered Magnuson, Hermansen said.
No evidence was offered Wednesday to support Jadama's account of events.
Hermansen said Jadama told detectives he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he was willing to speak to them without a lawyer.
Defense attorney Nick Falcone pressed Hermansen on whether Palmer had said before Wednesday that someone stepped into the apartment. Hermansen said he had such a statement from Palmer in his notes, but didn't know whether there was a recording of Palmer saying such.
"I'm happy to have you look for it because it doesn't exist," Falcone told Hermansen.
"It might not be in a recorded interview," Hermansen conceded.
Falcone told the judge that without Palmer's testimony about a foot entering the apartment, there's no evidence of a burglary. He wanted that charge dismissed. Bernards-Goodman said she found Palmer and Hermansen to be credible. She let stand both the burglary and the homicide charge.
Bernards-Goodman scheduled a Dec. 11 hearing for attorneys on both sides to argue motions in the case.
A woman who identified herself only as Jadama's mother sat through Wednesday's testimony. Outside the courtroom, she told a reporter they are from The Gambia, but declined to answer other questions.
Twitter: @natecarlisle