A man who served four tours in Iraq told jurors Monday that his "Marine brother" likely saved his life by fatally stabbing a Rice University basketball player outside a Northgate bar almost three years ago.
Michael Fuller said he was repeatedly kicked and punched in the head during a fight with the victim's brother before his fellow Marine, Ronald Andrew Johnson Jr., stepped in.
Johnson is accused of stabbing Jonathan Bailey four times in the chest, causing Bailey to hemorrhage blood on the street next to A&M United Methodist Church and die soon after at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan.
Fuller, who testified for two hours, said he suffered head injuries during the fight and has no memory of the stabbing, but knows that Johnson wouldn't sit idly by "because Marines don't leave each other."
Johnson was charged with murder in Bailey's death. He also faces an aggravated assault charge in the stabbing of Jonathan Bailey's twin brother, Janson. Monday was the fourth day of testimony in his trial; he could face up to 99 years in prison if found guilty.
Defense lawyers have acknowledged that Johnson wielded the knife that wounded both Bailey twins, but they have suggested to jurors that he was justified in using deadly force because of the beating Fuller received at the hands of Janson Bailey and his friends.
Witnesses have testified that at least five people -- most of them large, muscular men who have worked as bouncers or floor men in local night clubs -- punched or kicked Fuller in the head during a series of fights outside the V-Bar in April 2007.
Defense attorneys showed jurors an enlarged picture of Fuller laying in a hospital bed the day after the fight: His reddened eyes were swollen shut and he suffered fractured bones in his face, along with double vision, which never went away. He said he received a concussion and was throwing up for hours afterward.
Prosecutors have made no attempt to deny that Fuller was brutally beaten, but say the timing of the event calls into question Johnson's claims of self-defense.
Witnesses have testified that the most vicious of the attacks on Fuller came after he was pulled away from punching Janson Bailey. One man connected with a "running uppercut" to Fuller's face; Janson Bailey took a step and kicked him as hard as he could in the face with his size 13 foot, while Megan Foster, Janson Bailey's girlfriend, then repeatedly kicked Fuller while he remained on the ground not moving, according to testimony.
But testimony has indicated that both Bailey twins had already been stabbed by that point -- though Janson Bailey's adrenaline was rushing and he didn't know it until after the fight. Therefore, the claims of Johnson's motive of defending his friend are questionable because the worst of Fuller's beating came after the stabbing already happened, prosecutors have suggested.
Prosecutors have been unable to show the exact moment the stabbing occurred, because no witnesses at the scene saw Johnson stab either of the twins, and Janson Bailey didn't know he was stabbed until after the fight was over.
Prosecutors have noted that Johnson didn't stab any of the other people who were beating Fuller. They have portrayed Jonathan Bailey's role in the altercations as innocent. He wasn't involved in the first two fights between Fuller and his brother, they said, and he came upon the third to see Johnson and Fuller teaming up on Janson Bailey.
During cross examination, defense attorneys were able to get a witness to repeat what they told police -- Jonathan Bailey removed his shirt prior to entering the third fight, which perhaps was an indication that his intentions weren't as innocent as portrayed.
Fuller said he was visiting Johnson from Dallas where he had taken a test to become a firefighter in the April 2007 night. After eating dinner at Johnson's College Station apartment, the friends who fought together in Iraq visited multiple Northgate bars.
They crossed paths with the Bailey twins as the brothers celebrated their 22nd birthday at the V-Bar. Fuller said he was at the bar waiting for a drink, and felt Janson Bailey "humping" on his back side.
Fuller said he turned to push Janson Bailey away, and then a fight ensued. Fuller was pushed outside by bar employees. Janson Bailey followed him out and a second fight occurred in the street. Fuller said someone then threw his wallet
at him. He said he rummaged through it and found that his ID and debit card were gone, so he found Johnson and told him that he had been jumped and his property had been stolen.
"He said, 'Let's go get your stuff back,'" said Fuller, recalling his conversation with Johnson.
That's when the third fight broke out, witnesses said.
Friends of Janson Bailey have testified that the wallet fell out of Fuller's pants during the second fight. Prosecutors have produced receipts that indicate that Fuller's ID and debit card weren't taken from him, but left behind at the bar to hold open a tab.
Testimony resumes at 8:40 a.m. in the 361st District Courtroom at the Brazos County Courthouse, 300 E. 26th St.
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