Prosecution rests in Jonathan Broyhill murder trial, mother testifies
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- After the prosecution in the Jonathan Broyhill murder trial rested their case Monday, it was the turn of the defense which called his mother to the witness stand.
Broyhill is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Democratic Party strategist Jamie Hahn and attempted murder for attacking her husband Nation when he intervened in April 2013.
On the witness stand Monday, Kay Broyhill said she was not able to visit her son the night of the murders because he was under guard at the hospital after cutting his wrists and stabbing himself in the stomach.
She told jurors she had little contact with her son for years after she left his father and moved out when he was 18 - and because she remained friends with a high school girlfriend he broke up with before announcing he was gay.
"Sarah and I had become friends because at one point in time I thought that she was going to be my daughter-in-law. And then they had a parting of the ways so we kind of relied on each other at that point," she said.
Broyhill said she and her son have now mended their relationship.
Judge Paul C. Ridgeway said he will make ruling Tuesday on whether the defense can call a prison psychiatrist to testify in the case over prosecution objections. The prosecution claims it's a ploy to call an expert witness to talk about Broyhill's mental state, but the defense said the questions will stick to facts about the medication Broyhill is taking in prison.
Earlier in the day, Nation Hahn sobbed in court as the prosecution played the 911 call describing his wife's fatal injuries for the jury.
Broyhill's defense attorneys don't deny the attacks, but has maintained Broyhill should be convicted of second-degree murder because they said the attack was not premeditated.
Throughout the trial, they have painted him as a "deeply troubled" man who lied to his friends about having illnesses and other personal problems.
The prosecution said Broyhill kept the books for Jamie Hahn's political consulting company and had embezzled more than $46,500 from the campaign of Congressman Brad Miller.
Jamie was confronting Broyhill about the missing money in her north Raleigh home when she was stabbed.
Earlier Monday, a lead investigator in the case testified that while Broyhill was hospitalized after the April 2013 attack because he cut his wrists and stabbed himself in the stomach, he was guarded by Raleigh police who weren't supposed to let anyone in or out.
However, Reverend Nancy Petty had a WakeMed ID and was allowed in to see Broyhill because the officer guarding the room thought she was a hospital chaplain and didn't realize she was Broyhill's personal pastor.
Broyhill's attorney pointed out that when the pastor visited Broyhill's room she even questioned him about the crime.
"She did say she was Mr. Broyhill's personal pastor, didn't she? And had Officer Yurena been aware that Rev. Petty had been with the Hahn's for whatever amount of time it was, including if it been all night and had not left the hospital yet, the protocol is don't let her in under those circumstances because she would presumably know too much information about the case from the from the Hahn family. Is that fair," attorney Joe Arbour asked Raleigh Police Detective Zeke Morse.
"That is fair," Morse replied. "Had she known all that she would not allowed the pastor in."
Broyhill's attorney also got the detective to confirm that Broyhill never gave a reason for attacking the Hahns.
Last week, the attorney also made it clear to jurors that no one ever figured out whether Broyhill attacked the couple before or after he hurt himself.
