11/10/2009

By ERIN MATHEWS

Salina Journal

A Brookville man testified in his own defense Monday in Saline County District Court, saying that the knife that paralyzed his girlfriend's brother was not his and he had not used it in an altercation.

Steven H. Weis Jr., 25, gave an account of the fight that differed in several details from prosecution witnesses' version of events in the early morning hours of July 13, 2008, in central Salina. Jury deliberations are expected to begin today after closing arguments.

Contrary to previous testimony, Weis and his former girlfriend, Alicia Napoleone, both testified that he had not struck her and they had not argued while he attempted to start her Jeep that night. It had died previously that evening in front of a friend's house. She left it there before catching a ride to a couple of bars with her brother and some friends.

Weis said that when he and Napoleone couldn't get the Jeep to start, they began to walk up the street toward her house.

He said they heard people coming from the house shouting obscenities behind them and challenging him to fight. He said he recognized one of the voices as Napoleone's brother, Anthony.

Weis said he did not respond and kept walking away. He said he stopped at a corner and put two beers he was carrying in Napoleone's purse, but he did not hit her then as prosecution witnesses had testified.

"It's your testimony that you walked peacefully down the block and never said a word?" Saline County Attorney Ellen Mitchell asked. Weis said yes.

"People start following you out of the blue?" she asked, and Weis agreed.

Told him to cut it out

He said the yelling was getting closer, and Napoleone told him to keep going while she stopped and tried to talk to her brother, stepbrother and others following them.

"I told them to cut it out," Alicia Napoleone testified. "There was no reason for what they were doing."

Weis said he heard somebody running up behind him, and he turned and Anthony Napoleone was "in my face." He said Anthony Napoleone yelled at him to leave his sister alone.

Weis said Thomas Nece and Justin Lakkari were nearby, and Nece was "waving something shiny" in his right hand.

"The next thing I know Anthony's tackling me at my feet," he said. "I fell to the ground."

He said Nece jumped on top of him and started biting his wrist. He said he got up and tried to run and was tackled again by Lakkari and held in a headlock.

Alicia Napoleone testified that she threw two bottles of beer from her purse in an attempt to stop the fight.

And now he's paralyzed

Weis was treated at Salina Regional Health Center for a fractured shoulder blade and cuts on his arms. Anthony Napoleone was transferred to a Wichita hospital, paralyzed from the chest down with a knife tip broken off in his spine.

Weis said when he was interviewed by police after the altercation he was "scared, shaken and throwing up."

"You were sticking your fingers down your throat to make yourself throw up, weren't you?" Mitchell asked.

"I don't recall," Weis said.

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.

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