Trial begins for Antioch-area man accused of killing girlfriend
Michael Shane Axtell had a vicious temper that was fueled by alcohol when he punched Tammy Stone hard enough to kill her in the bedroom of her Antioch-area home, Lake County prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
Defense attorneys countered during opening statements that no one saw the fatal punch, and prosecutors will not be able to prove definitively that Axtell caused the injury that killed Stone about 10 p.m. on Oct. 4, 2012.
"He did nothing to cause that to happen," defense attorney Katherine Hatch said.
Axtell, 43, faces up to 60 years in prison if found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for killing Stone, 40. He remains in Lake County jail on $3 million bond.
Assistant State's Attorney Eric Kalata said Stone and Axtell were in a relationship and had children together, but split up after Axtell moved to Colorado for work more than a decade ago. However, the two rekindled their relationship and had been living together on and off since he returned to Antioch Township in spring 2011, Kalata said.
On the day of the murder, the two had been drinking at various bars in and around Antioch, but got into physical fight after returning home for the evening, Kalata said.
Stone had been knocked unconscious and resuscitated once, Kalata said, when she phoned her daughter Meghan for help.
Meghan Stone arrived at the home with two friends shortly after receiving the phone call and confronted Axtell, who is her father, Kalata said. Meghan was pulled out of the home by her friends after the verbal confrontation with Axtell turned physical, Kalata said.
Meghan Stone testified she was in the garage cooling off when she heard a "loud thud" from inside the home in the 26000 block of West Bond Avenue.
"It sounded like a bowling ball being dropped on a hardwood floor," she testified Tuesday.
She said she ran inside, passed Axtell in the hallway to her mother's room, then opened the bedroom door and found Stone.
"I saw my mother laying on the floor unconscious," she said. "I tried to wake her up and say mom, but she didn't respond."
One of the friends called police, and Axtell left the house wearing a hat and carrying a computer, Kalata said.
He was picked up about 90 minutes later by Lake County Sheriff's deputies, Kalata said. He was taken to the criminal investigation division and interrogated on video by police and admitted to killing Stone, Kalata said.
That video will be shown to Judge Victoria Rossetti before a verdict is rendered at the conclusion of the bench trial.
Axtell rejected a plea deal with prosecutors before opening statements Tuesday. Prosecutors also dropped one of the three first-degree murder charges against Axtell.