For the first time, a woman on trial for murder took the stand in her own defense Monday, detailing a graphic pattern of alleged abuse by her husband before she shot him to death.
Julie Harper, 41, faces first-degree murder charges in the death of her husband, Carlsbad High School teacher Jason Harper, 39, whose body was found in a pile of blankets, pillows and boxes inside their Carlsbad home on Aug. 7, 2012.
The defense claims Harper shot her husband out of self-defense, and a good portion of Monday’s testimony was devoted to supporting that argument.
As she took the stand, Harper detailed her relationship with Jason leading up to the day he died. She claimed their loud, demeaning arguments would sometimes turn violent.
Harper described one fight in which Jason allegedly forced her to have sex.
"He slammed me up against the wall face first and...um forcibly entered me from behind. I said, ‘Stop, stop, what are you doing? Stop!’” Harper testified.
She said Jason raped her on multiple occasions.
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While the defendant sat on the stand, her attorneys played two recorded arguments between Harper and Jason, the first from the night before their tenth wedding anniversary. It is peppered with foul and disparaging language.
“I don’t give a sh** about our tenth anniversary,” Jason is recorded saying. “I've already said our marriage sucks a**. I'd want a divorce if it wasn't for the kids. God, what world do you f***ing live in? I am only here for the kids."
He went on to call her several names.
Harper told the jury this argument was mild compared to others during which she claimed her husband would yell so loud she was afraid the entire neighborhood could hear.
The name calling and emotional abuse started early in their marriage when she was pregnant with their first child, Harper stated.
She said her husband told her how “disgustingly fat” she had gotten. When she explained it’s normal to gain weight during pregnancy, Jason allegedly responded, “It’s not that you just have a belly. You’re fat all over. Even your arms have cellulite.”
After about three hours of testimony, Harper had not yet started describing the day of the shooting, when Jason was killed while their three children sat in a room downstairs.
Prosecutors say just days before, Harper had filed for divorce, citing abuse in the court documents.
Last week, Harper’s father John Cihak testified that she came to his Normal Heights office on Aug. 7, 2012 to tell him Jason was dead and she shot him out of self-defense.
Inside a bag she gave Cihak before her arrest, police found $39,000 in cash, a gun, prescription pill bottles, jewelry and the family's passports.
Harper will continue her testimony Tuesday. If convicted of first-degree murder, she could be sentenced to up to 50 years to life in prison.
