Accused killer takes stand
Editor's note: This morning both sides offered closing arguments in the Anthony Darrell Heath trial. The jury is expected to begin deliberating this afternoon. We will bring you updates via tnonline.com, our Times News Facebook page and our Twitter feed Times_News.
Taking the witness stand in his own defense Monday, Anthony Heath offered up yet another version of what happened on Jan. 31, 2014, the night Angela Steigerwalt of Tamaqua died of strangulation in his Allentown apartment.Heath, on trial in Lehigh County court, had already told police he blacked out and found her dead, a speaker wire around her throat and, in a second version, that he became enraged when they argued after she went back on a promise to take him to a child custody hearing.There was also a suggestion that he killed her after he became angry when she said she was "falling" for him.Acting as his own lawyer, Heath offered another version Monday.On the witness standIn a rambling, sometimes disjointed half-hour monologue punctuated by lengthy pauses, he suggested, but did not outright say, that Steigerwalt died during a "role-playing" sexual encounter."I did a lot of stupid things, unspeakable things," he said.First Assistant District Attorney Steven Luksa projected onto an overhead screen a transcript of a taped interview with two state troopers on Feb. 2.In the interview, the troopers, Joseph Campbell and Nicholas De la Iglesias, ask Heath whether Steigerwalt's death happened during or after a sexual encounter.They posed the question three different ways.Each time, Heath said her death had not happened during or as a result of a sexual act."We weren't having sex when I, when the thing happened," he says.Minutes later, asked again, he says "This has nothing to do sexually."The third time, Heath says "It wasn't sexual or anything like that. No sexual deviance."With the transcript on the screen, Luksa asks Heath, "She died during sex?""Yes," Heath says.Earlier, he told jurors, "I did not intentionally cause the death of Angie."Heath said he didn't hear her say her "safe word," the word those engaged in sadomasochistic sexual activity use to tell their partners they want to stop.Heath said "stop" was Steigerwalt's safe word. He said he doesn't recall his own.Keeping a secretRealizing she was dead, Heath said he panicked, didn't call 911 or summon help from the hospital across the street, and tried to cover up her death because Steigerwalt had asked him not to tell anyone of her proclivities."She didn't want me to tell anyone what we were doing," he said.Later, he would testify she made him "look into her eyes and promise not to tell her family."Police believe Heath texted the message "Going to see you some other time. Husband is getting on my nerves" to himself from Steigerwalt's phone.When confronted about the text message sent from Steigerwalt's phone to his own at 1:38 a.m. Feb. 1, 2014, saying she would not be able to get together with him on Jan. 31 after her 3-11 p.m. shift at Kraft Foods, Heath admitted he had sent the text in a panic."I could barely do that. It was spell-check that did half of that," he said.Heath also said he threw away "toys" and clothing in the 506 Chew St. apartment after Steigerwalt died.He then shopped at the Trexlertown Walmart for a plastic tote, lighter fluid and a lighter, for which he paid cash.He used Steigerwalt's credit card to buy men's clothes and a watch and gloves. He bought the gloves "because my hands were slippery."Police say he then took the body to Jim Thorpe to dispose of it, to try to "set up" her husband for the murder. Heath had suggested to police that Steigerwalt's husband was abusive.After taking Steigerwalt's body, bound with wire in the tote, to Flagstaff Road in Jim Thorpe at around dawn Feb. 1 and burning it, he fled in her car to North Carolina.A Walmart bag with the receipt inside was found on Steigerwalt's charred remains.Dental records identified Steigerwalt, and the receipt linked Heath to her killing.When Steigerwalt's husband, Gary, reported the car stolen after being told of his wife's death, police used the car's OnStar system to track it. Heath was caught the next day.Rebutting a trooper's testimonyHeath also testified that Trooper Raymond Judge lied under oath about an interview they had on the nine-hour car ride back from North Carolina.Judge on Friday testified that Heath, after being given his Miranda rights and agreeing to talk, told him he strangled Steigerwalt after he became enraged when she appeared to be backing out of a promise to take him to a custody hearing.On Monday, after a length of time during which Heath would either evade or simply not answer Luksa's questions, or answer with his hand at his mouth, muffling his words, Judge Kelly M. Banach reminded him he had told jurors in his opening statement Wednesday that he would tell them the truth."This is your chance. This is it," she said.Under cross-examination by Luksa, Heath told jurors "I never talked with (Trooper Judge) about Angela, no."A fatal attractionHeath in his testimony told jurors he and Angela met through his roommate, who was not named.Describing himself as a ladies' man, Heath said he began flirting with her, and their relationship developed into a sexual one.Early on, he asked her "really innocently" what her safe word was."That started something in her," he said.Still, Heath continued on Monday to insist that theirs was not a romantic relationship.A medical examiner disagreesAs Luksa cross-examined Heath, he picked up the tote, which, along with the lighter and lighter fluid, have been sitting at the front of the courtroom since Wednesday.Several jurors blinked as Luksa banged the tote on the floor several times as he described how Heath must have dragged it down the stairs from his apartment, with Steigerwalt's body inside.Later, Luksa would fall to the floor as he demonstrated how a person's posture changes when she falls unconscious while being strangled.That came about as he cross-examined Heath's second witness besides himself.Dr. Karl E. Williams, chief medical examiner for Allegheny County, said he disagreed with earlier testimony by forensic pathologist Michael Johnson and Deputy Carbon County coroner Robert Miller, who both determined Steigerwalt died of ligature strangulation.Williams said there was "no physical evidence" Steigerwalt died from a wire around her neck.He also admitted he had only the information given him by Heath, which included the autopsy report, photos, police information, and conversations with Heath.Heath had also called to the stand trooper Cpl. Jason Troutman, who searched Heath's apartment after the killing.Troutman testified Heath's room was bare except for a sofa and television."It does not look like a lived-in room," he said.Luksa contends Heath cleaned up after strangling Steigerwalt.Heath denied that, but admitted he threw out clothes and sex toys.