GREELEY, Colo. — The defense rested Tuesday after calling only three witnesses in the trial of a former Northern Colorado backup punter accused of trying to kill the starter.
Mitch Cozad, who did not testify, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault in the attack on Rafael Mendoza last Sept. 11. Police and prosecutors have said it was a bid to get the starter's job.
The prosecution rested its case earlier Tuesday. Defense attorney Joseph Gavaldon asked the judge to dismiss the attempted murder charge, saying prosecutors did not prove their case. The judge refused.
Closing arguments were expected later Tuesday.
Mendoza was attacked outside his apartment in Evans, a small town adjacent to Greeley. He was left with a deep gash in his kicking leg but later returned to the team.
He testified he could not see who attacked him. Gavaldon has claimed it was another Northern Colorado student and not Cozad.
Prosecutors spent more than four days laying out their case against Cozad, calling police, a former girlfriend of Cozad's and Mendoza himself as witnesses.
Gavaldon, by contrast, took only a few hours, calling two character witnesses and a third who contradicted testimony of a prosecution witness.
Cozad's aunt, Sandee Kitchen, described Cozad as caring, gentle and helpful. "He's like a teddy bear. He's not aggressive," she said.
Randy Yaussi, director of the Outward Bound program at the University of Wyoming, said he has known Cozad for 3 1-2 years and described him as polite and caring.
"I have never, ever seen anything that would make me think he's aggressive," he said.
Cozad's fiancee, Michelle Weydert, contradicted earlier testimony by Angela Vogel, a former girlfriend of Cozad's.
Vogel said Cozad had come to her dorm room on Sept. 4 dressed in black and crying, anxious and frustrated.
"He told me he got to be a ninja that night," Vogel said. "'Oh my God, what I almost did tonight.' I thought he was suicidal."
Weydert testified Cozad was with her that night, was not dressed in black and made no references to a ninja.