Jury considers self-defense vs. malice after closing arguments in homicide trial

CASPER, Wyo. — A Natrona County jury went into deliberations shortly before noon Wednesday to decide whether James Franklin Mavigliano acted maliciously or in self-defense when he beat and strangled Chance Arias to death in a motel room near downtown Casper on March 5.

Mavigliano, 44, is charged with second-degree murder. Voluntary manslaughter is also on the table as a lesser, included offense. He is also charged with possession of methamphetamine, which police found in his bag, along with a bloody lamp and some of the victim’s personal items, when they picked him up at a bus stop just hours after the body was discovered.

Mavigliano and Arias had never met before Mavigliano went to his rented room at the since-rebranded Topper Motel with a woman who was a mutual friend, according to trial testimony and evidence. 

Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson reminded the jury during closing arguments of the tape they had seen of Mavigliano talking to police about the incident and Mavigliano’s state of mind at the time. 

“I killed him because he hurt what I love,” Nelson said, quoting from Mavigliano’s interview. Mavigliano told police that he smoked methamphetamine in Arias’s room and said that “every look on her face let me know he had been doing something to my friend and wronged me,” according to Nelson’s recitation of the transcript. Mavigliano had also said that he had a tendency of “over-seeing things” while on methamphetamine.

After a verbal dispute about Mavigliano’s volume and conduct in Arias’s rented room, Mavigliano said he was getting up to leave when Arias confronted him at the door. Nelson pointed out that at first, Mavigliano said Arias “swung on” him, but later told the detective that he’d seen Arias’s shoulder “drop,” which he interpreted as a windup to swing.

Mavigliano reportedly told police Arias never landed a blow as Mavigliano punched him multiple times, held him down on the bed, stuck him with a lamp base and wrapped the cord around his neck. Mavigliano told police he guessed the cord was around Arias’s neck for about seven minutes before he knew he was dead from the hissing sound like air coming out of a tire.

Mavigliano’s public defender, Steve Mink, told the jury that Mavigliano was leaving the room and had acted in self-defense, pointing to Maviglaino’s statements that Arias “swung on” him and that he told Arias “Dude, chill. Stop and I’ll let you up” during the prolonged struggle.

“Any blow could be the death blow,” Mink said, citing Mavigliano from the police interview. “James is under no obligation to let him up so that [Arias] could get the upper hand.”

Mink added that the state’s burden of proof for both homicide charges included ruling out self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Arias was the primary aggressor here, and there’s no shred of evidence that this was not self-defense,” Mink said. “You do not need to allow an assailant to hit you before you defend yourself.” 

In rebuttal, Nelson went back to Mavigliano’s statement of “I stepped into him” to police. “He’s closing the gap,” Nelson said. “The defendant’s statements do not reconcile with themselves.”

“I seen it in his eye what he was doing to her,” Nelson said, quoting the interview. “He tells you what’s on his mind.”

Nelson added that Mavigliano had taken the lamp, indicating he knew it was evidence of a crime, though one piece of the plastic base had broken off and was left on the scene.

Mavigliano is presumed innocent unless found guilty by the jury.