UA police Cpl. Andrew Kisela was standing watch over Galareka Harrison at University Medical Center when she motioned him to her bedside from 10 feet away.
Her right calf remained split open from an apparent knife wound and she was crying, Kisela testified Thursday in Pima County Superior Court.
Lying dead on a gurney a few feet away was Harrison's University of Arizona roommate, Mia Henderson.
"(Harrison) tugged on the sleeve of my shirt and said she needed to talk to me," Kisela said. "She wanted me to know that the cuts she received were pretty much in self-defense. She said that Mia had come at her with a knife."
Harrison went on to say that she got the cut on her calf from trying to kick Henderson away and the cuts on her palms were from trying to deflect the knife, Kisela said.
She also said Henderson was already bloody when the attack started and she didn't know why, Kisela said.
Thursday was the first day in Harrison's first-degree-murder trial.
Henderson and Harrison, both 18 at the time, were UA roommates when someone stabbed Henderson more than 20 times in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, 2007.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Kellie Johnson told jurors during opening statements that the evidence will prove "beyond any doubt whatsoever" that Harrison stabbed Henderson to death in a premeditated act.
At the time of the attack, university police and school officials were investigating Harrison in a theft case, Johnson said.
Henderson told police on Aug. 28 that she'd found her UA debit card and her Social Security card in Harrison's wallet and that $500 was missing from her checking account, Johnson said.
When police questioned Harrison, she confessed not only to stealing the cards and the $500, but to stealing the identity of another girl and to writing two other checks, Johnson said.
Harrison was not arrested then, however, and both Henderson and Harrison returned home to the Navajo Nation for the weekend, which was Labor Day weekend. Henderson was from Tuba City and Harrison is from Chinle.
Back at the UA on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007, Henderson attended class as normal and ate dinner and ran with a friend, Jordan Begay, Johnson said.
Begay testified that the last time he heard from Henderson was 10:47 p.m. when she sent him a text message saying goodnight.
Police received a 911 call about a stabbing at the Graham-Greenlee residence hall at 5:45 a.m. the next day, Johnson said.
Henderson was found slumped over on her knees with 14 stab wounds in her back, Johnson said. She'd also been stabbed in the neck and face.
Harrison was found in the hallway.
Both women were taken to UMC and Henderson was pronounced dead at 6:32 a.m.
When detectives spoke with Harrison, she told police "lie after lie after lie" during her three-hour interview, Johnson told jurors.
For 90 minutes, Harrison insisted a man had attacked both women, Johnson said. Then she said Henderson attacked her.
In her last version of events, Harrison admitted she stabbed Henderson after brewing over the trouble Henderson was causing her, the prosecutor said.
Among the evidence Johnson said she intends to show jurors is a suicide note written by Harrison โ pretending to be Henderson โ the night before the slaying. The note said Henderson was so ashamed at lying about Harrison's thievery, she had to commit suicide.
But, Johnson said, "People don't stab themselves 14 times in the back."
In addition, one of Harrison's friends will testify about stopping at a Target on the way back from Chinle so Harrison could buy the large knife that turned out to be the murder weapon, Johnson said.
Assistant Pima County Public Defender John O'Brien urged the jurors to remember that what the attorneys say isn't evidence. They can take into consideration only what witnesses say and what the exhibits show.
O'Brien suggested that Harrison's statement to police wasn't voluntary. After reading her her Miranda rights, an officer asked her how old she was, O'Brien said. When she replied "18" the officer said, "Oh, well, that doesn't apply to you," so Harrison might not have understood she had the right to remain silent and to have an attorney present, O'Brien said.
The defense attorney said the jurors will hear evidence there was a struggle in the women's room and they will have to decide for themselves what exactly happened that morning.
Begay, Henderson's friend, told jurors he lived just five rooms down from her.
On the morning of the slaying, Begay said, he was awakened by a loud commotion outside in the hallway, but police kept telling him to return to his room.
He became really concerned because he couldn't reach Henderson, and when his roommate received a text message about what had happened, Begay ran out of his room and police escorted him to UMC.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Nanette Warner is presiding over the trial, which is expected to resume at 10:30 a.m. today.
On StarNet: Read updates each day during the trial at: http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/breakingnews
