Charged with two separate counts of attempted murder
San Martin – Attempted murder suspect Anthony Aguilera said he intended to rob Scott Bargar, 24, of $1,000 worth of marijuana, but never meant to slash him in the neck during a fight at a Morgan Hill hotel room.
He took the stand in his own defense for the second time Tuesday morning at Santa Clara County Superior Court to undergo questioning by the prosecution.
Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott pressed Aguilera about his involvement in the Jan. 26, 2005 stabbing at the Extended Stay America hotel, inferring that he knowingly slashed at Bargar’s neck to kill him.
“At some point (Bargar) told you he wanted to stop fighting. At some point he had the upper hand,” Scott said, recalling Bargar’s testimony that he held a box cutter to Aguilera’s throat at one point by chose not to cut it. “You stabbed him in the neck … getting cut in the neck is the place where you kill people.”
Aguilera remained calm during most of the 90 minute testimony, keeping his hands folded and voice low while politely answering “Yes, sir” and “No, sir,” to questioning. But he raised his voice to Scott when explaining how the fight in the hotel room went down.
“Where I put (the knife) I don’t know. I wasn’t aiming. I was just trying to defend myself,” he said. “I (wasn’t) trying to kill nobody.”
According to Aguilera, he hit Bargar on the back of the head with an unloaded BB gun when he entered the hotel room in order to steal the drugs. But when he didn’t fall to the ground, Aguilera stabbed him to protect himself from getting slashed by Bargar.
“I wasn’t aiming at his neck. I wasn’t,” he insisted. “We were both stabbing each other. I wasn’t aiming for his neck.”
Both men received stitches for their wounds, however, Bargar’s injuries were life threatening.
Aguilera, 22, is a suspected Norteño gang member on trial for two separate attempted murder charges, two assault with a deadly weapon counts, evading arrest and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
He is the primary suspect in the Oct. 23, 2004 shooting of a 22-year-old Gilroy man at a liquor store parking lot. Aguilera has denied pulling the trigger in the shooting.
Throughout his testimony, Aguilera has denied being a Norteño gang member when the incidents occurred. He said he got out of the gang lifestyle after being released from the California Youth Authority when he realized his life was going nowhere.
“It was stupid,” he said of the gang lifestyle. “I never got anything out of it.”
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9am today.
