Witnesses testified that a fatal stabbing at Bowie State University last year followed a few verbal and minor physical assaults between the victim and the woman on trial for first degree murder.
Alexis Simpson, 20, is accused of the fatal stabbing of her then-roommate Dominique Frazier in September 2011.
During cross examination Wednesday – Day 2 of Simpson’s trial -- the state’s first witness, Frazier’s friend Kiaira Johnson, described what she saw when the stabbing happened.
“I didn’t even see the knife, but when Dominique hit her, the girl had the knife in her hand,” Johnson said. “I don’t think she meant to cut Dominique, but it just happened.”
Simpson and Frazier stopped getting along soon after the beginning of the school year.
In opening statements Tuesday, the attorney for the defense said Simpson told dorm management, “They are threatening me, and I’m afraid they are going to jump me … I just want to change rooms.” That request was denied.
A week later, Frazier and a few of her friends were in their suite listening to music, drinking alcohol and getting ready for an on-campus comedy show when Simpson entered the suite and turned down the music, according to court testimony. That led to an argument that ended with Frazier slamming her suite door closed in Simpson’s face.
Johnson testified Wednesday that that’s when Frazier grabbed her knife.
“After Dominique closed the door … she went and grabbed the knife ...,” Johnson said. “Alexis was on the other side of the door … I took the knife out of her hand and put it in the drawer. I said, ‘No, you are not going to do that. You are not going to stab her.’”
Johnson did not tell anyone about that incident with the knife until this week. When asked why she didn’t mention it, she said, “I didn’t want anyone to think she (Dominique) had did it to herself, like had the knife out or anything, that that was the reason it happened, that it was her knife, that she stabbed herself.”
The trial is expected to be complete Thursday.
