CHESAPEAKE
Daniel Vergason Jr. worked for General Dynamics for 29 years. He loved to fish, garden and ride motorcycles.
That was how a sobbing Susan Eldridge described her brother Friday, the second day of John Artybridge's trial. Artybridge, 23, of Chesapeake, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Vergason, 55, of Norwich, Conn., was found stabbed to death a year ago in his extended-stay hotel room. Vergason and Artybridge were living separately at InTown Suites on Old Greenbrier Road at the time.
After Eldridge's testimony and a lunch break, deputy public defender A. Robinson Winn asked for a mistrial. He argued that Vergason's traits and interests weren't relevant to the case.
"I think the jury is going to be so overwhelmed with the emotion of this lady," Winn said before jurors returned to the courtroom.
Judge V. Thomas Forehand Jr. said he'd take the motion under advisement. However, he said, the prosecution "can develop that this was a human being that had some value."
Dr. Leah Bush, Virginia's chief medical examiner, testified Friday that Vergason appeared to have been stabbed in the abdomen, chest and back five times with a butcher knife. Cuts on his arms and hands were characteristic of defense injuries but could have occurred in mutual combat, she said.
Winn said Thursday that Artybridge was invited into the room and acted in self-defense when Vergason attacked him.
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday.
Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilot online.com
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