Opinion ID: 6216640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Lake Testimony.

Text: ¶19 After the State rested its case-in-chief, Lake testified as to his account of the stabbing and preceding events. He admitted stabbing Zitnik, but asserted that he was trying “to defend [him]self” rather than “try[ing] to kill him.” Lake testified that Zitnik began “getting hostile” toward him in the last three months prior to the stabbing, called him “sick” and “disgusting,” and threatened to “slice [his] throat.” Lake stated that he stopped going into Jesters whenever he thought Zitnik was there.8 8 Lake testified that he could tell if Zitnik was at the bar because he knew where Zitnik’s “regular [parking] spot” was. 14 ¶20 On cross-examination by the State, Lake acknowledged that he told police that Zitnik had “blatantly slandered” him after becoming “upset about some of the things [he] said.” The State then pressed for more detail: [State]: Did you tell somebody that your nickname in the military was “skull fucker”? [Lake]: No. [State]: [D]id you make comments that were shocking to people about children? [Lake]: Yes. [State]: So could you explain why you would tell people in a bar over the course of months or years shocking things about molesting children? [Lake]: Sometimes it would make people laugh. Other times it would get people away from me. [State]: . . . [D]id you tell [Cravens] shocking things about your attitude about children . . . about the dream that you had? [Lake]: Yes, I [did]. [State]: And do you recall saying the age of the child involved in that dream? [Lake]: Yes, I do. ... [State]: Was there some precipitating event that caused [Cravens] to tell you to stay away from him . . . [and] [s]o why did he start referring to you in the presence of others as a child molester? [Lake]: Because he didn’t like me. [State]: And you gave him no reason to believe that [the] apparition of being a child molester was something that would allow him to refer to you in that way? 15 [Lake]: I don’t know. . . . I had made a joke like that around him before . . . and he didn’t have a problem with it. ... [State]: [S]o you are [saying] you did not tell [Cravens] about a dream that you had involving a 14-year-old being molested? [Lake]: That was a nightmare first off. [State]: Did you tell [Cravens] about it? [Lake]: Yes, I did. ... [State]: Did you ever say shocking things to people other than Mr. Cravens or Mr. Zitnik . . . [and] [w]hat did you tell them? [Lake]: I would yell thinks like “skull fucking” . . . things . . . of that nature. Sometimes I would make a joke. [State]: About the boy that was dead in the trunk of your car? [Lake]: I didn’t say [the] “boy was dead.” I was merely repeating a joke my co-worker told me. [State]: . . . What was the joke? [Lake]: I’d rather not say. [State]: Well, I’m asking you what was the joke? [Lake]: My co-worker . . . asked me what was black and blue and hated sex. I said, “What?” He said, “The boy in the back of my truck.” [State]: And was that an offensive joke to some in the bar? [Lake]: Yes. [State]: Was it . . . offens[ive] . . . to Mr. Zitnik? 16 [Lake]: I believe so. ... [State]: [W]hy would you . . . yell[] out “skull fucker,” why – did you tell the cops something about a scallywag song? Remember that? . . . What’s the scallywag song about? [Lake]: [I]t was about skull fucking. [State]: Skulling? [Lake]: Skull fucking. ... [State]: You talked [in the bar] about the nightmare you had involving a 14-year-old being hurt sexually? [Lake]: Yes. [State]: You sang a song about skull fucking that was heard by others . . . in the bar . . . [a]nd you used the term “skull fucker” more than once in that bar, didn’t you? [Lake]: Yes. ... [State]: Why do you keep saying those things about children? [Lake]: . . . Sometimes I make jokes and they are funny but sometimes I just want people, certain people, to get away from me.