Burton testifies in murder trial, claims memory loss in wife's killing

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Michael Burton took the witness stand in his own defense today, claiming that prior to killing his wife with a samurai sword in 2006, she attacked him with a Taser and stabbed him with a kitchen knife.

Burton, a former Pasadena firefighter, also testified that he blacked out during a portion of the incident, and has no memory of inflicting his wife's 11 stab wounds.

In two and a half hours on the witness stand today in West Valley Superior Court, Burton detailed the history of his 13-year marriage, and the July 16, 2006 incident at the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home that ended in Otilia Burton's death.

It was the tenth day of testimony in Burton's murder trial, and the most dramatic, with a packed courtroom on hand as Burton, 48, defended himself from prosecutors' allegations of murder.

Burton testified that he had been sleeping on the downstairs couch at the family's two-story home when his wife returned from a night out at about 1:30 a.m. on July 16.

The couple had been in the midst of a bitter divorce for about a year, since Burton learned his wife was having an affair, Burton testified.

He testified that he approached his wife to speak to her about her daughter, the family's oldest child. The girl had been away from home for about a week, Burton testified.

As the pair talked, Otilia Burton set down her purse and began digging through it, Burton said. She produced the small flashlight-sized Taser and started lunging at him with it, Burton testified.

"I'm done," Otilia Burton said, according to Michael Burton's testimony. "I'm through. It's over."

Burton wore a dark suit, gray dress shirt and dark gray tie Monday, and his demeanor was calm and precise during much of his testimony.

But during his account of the confrontation with his wife, Burton battled tears and his voice often cracked.

The pair grappled over the Taser and both fell over onto a couch, Burton testified.

He said Otilia Burton never shocked him with the Taser during the altercation, but she struck him in the ribs and stepped on his feet.

After a brief struggle over the Taser, Otilia Burton left the living room area and went to the kitchen. She reached into the drawer where the family kept kitchen knives, Michael Burton testified.

When he saw her reach for the drawer, Burton said he ran upstairs to the master bedroom and retrieved one of the two collectable samurai swords he stored under the bed.

"That was the only thing I could find to protect myself," Burton testified.

He said he waited for his wife to come upstairs to continue her attack. Burton said he also feared his wife's boyfriend, Matthew Huntoon, might be lurking in the area of the home with plans to aid Otilia Burton.

His wife didn't come upstairs, so Burton said he walked slowly down the staircase holding the sword, hoping to see whether his wife's boyfriend had entered the house.

As he neared the bottom of the staircase he said he saw his wife holding a kitchen knife.

"Otilia, what's the matter with you?" he said he told her. Without speaking, she threw the knife at him but missed, Burton testified.

She retrieved two more knives from the kitchen and walked toward Burton, Burton testified, but dropped one of the knives before she reached him.

With the remaining knife, Burton said his wife lunged at him and stabbed him in the chest, then tried to hack at his right hand, which held the samurai sword.

Michael Burton testified that his wife lunged at him a second time with the knife -- but it's then when his memory of the incident is temporarily lost.

His next memory, Burton testified, is waking up, lying on the floor, and seeing his 35-year-old wife lying on the floor nearby, with the blade of the samurai sword lodged in her body.

"The sword was stuck in her lower abdomen area," Burton testified.

Burton testified that he didn't realize he had stabbed his wife 11 times until last month, as he reviewed evidence with trial date approaching.

"I didn't want to hurt her," Burton testified, his voice cracking. "I just wanted to stop her from stabbing me. And I care about her despite the divorce."

In an interview following today's hearing, two of Otilia Burton's sisters said they believed their former brother-in-law lied on the witness stand.

"He's not telling the whole truth," said Claudia Villery. "... He remembers little details, but not the actual killing."

Villery and her sister, Lisset Mosley, said they don't believe their sister attacked Burton. They also said Otilia Burton told people she feared her husband would attack her.

Mosley said she doesn't believe Michael Burton is remorseful for Otilia Burton's death, despite his tears on the witness stand Monday.

"I think it might be guilt," Mosley said. "I don't think it's remorse."

In the hours after his wife died, Burton testified that he swallowed a bottle of pain pills in a suicide attempt.

"I just knew that everybody was going to be hurt" from Otilia Burton's death, he testified.

He drifted in and out of sleep but did not succumb to the pills. Determined to kill himself, he said he went to the kitchen and took a large knife out of the dishwasher.

He cut his left wrist, slashed his neck, and again dozed off to sleep. His said his next memory of the morning was a sheriff's department SWAT team entering his home, disarming him and lifting him onto a stretcher.

Burton's murder trial is set to continue Tuesday, with prosecutors possibly calling witnesses to rebut the defense portion of the trial, which ended Monday afternoon.