Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Denier held up a knife in front of the jury during opening statements, telling jurors, “Diana died as a result of having this knife plunged into her chest.”
Friends and family members of Ross looked down during most of the proceedings, and one young woman sobbed quietly. Some were asked to leave the courtroom and change out of shirts with Diana’s picture on the front so as not to influence the jurors.
On the night she died, Ross was visiting her sister in Hamilton when Jackson and another woman walked over to Monument Street residence where friends and family were hanging out under a car port.
“The defendant started bickering with Diana,” Denier said “That’s when the defendant unzipped the bag, pulled out the blade, opened it up, locked it into position and started swinging.”
As others tried to help Ross, the defendant walked away, “cleaned Diana’s blood off the knife and hid it,” Denier said.
Jackson’s attorney David Brewer declined an opening statement, reserving his time until the end of the trial.
Brewer told the Journal-News that Jackson acted in self-defense.
“This is not a who-done-it case,” Brewer said. “It just is whether there is justification.”
The trial continues Tuesday morning in Judge Keith Spaeth’s courtroom.
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