In the second day of testimony in the trial of Kevin Baughan, attorneys for the defendant attempted to cast doubt on the testimony of Baughan’s then-fiancee, Amanda Ellis.

Baughan, 32, faces charges of attempted murder, assault with attempt to murder, and arson stemming from the December 2020 incident.

Baughan, who plans to testify today, says he never grabbed for the lighter Ellis said he tried to use to send the house — and everyone in it — up in flames.

After jurors heard testimony from her sister on Wednesday, Ellis took the stand Thursday morning, tearfully describing watching Baughan — with whom she had a rocky relationship — attempt to use a lighter after he had poured gasoline through the kitchen and dining room of the Alpena house in which they lived with Ellis’s sister, another man, and the four children.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Lt. Eric Hamp, of the Alpena Police Department, testifies in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Thursday.

Under questioning from Julie Miller, deputy chief defender at the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, Ellis explained inconsistent statements she made since the incident as the work of alleged badgering on the part of Baughan’s family to drop charges against him.

Initially testifying Baughan flung the lighter onto the floor when it wouldn’t work, Ellis, on hearing her sister had testified differently, said her sister’s story that Ellis knocked the lighter out of Baughan’s hand could have been true.

She couldn’t explain her sister’s assertions that the allegedly flung lighter landed in a bathroom. The bathroom’s door appeared closed in photos taken immediately after the incident.

Defense attorney Ron Bayot, also of the Northeast Michigan Michigan Regional Defender Office, promised jurors Baughan would testify today that Baughan never reached for a lighter at all.

To find Baughan guilty of attempted murder, Bayot said, jurors will have to believe the defendant meant to kill all the home’s occupants.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Kevin Baughan, facing attempted murder charges in a trial this week in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court, prepares to depart the courtroom on Thursday.

That possibility was disproved when Ellis testified that Baughan ordered her to get herself and the children out because he was going to burn the house down, Bayot said.

A fury-filled, alcohol-infused fight between the two culminated in Baughan shaking gasoline over himself and splashing it onto Ellis in their dining room, Ellis said.

Had she not been trying to get the gas can away from Baughan as he held it above his head, pouring it over himself, Ellis would probably not have been doused with it, she testified.

Later, an officer said, Baughan told police that, deeply upset by troubles with his relationship with Ellis, he blacked out before the fight, waking up once to the smell of gasoline and again to discover himself sitting in a corner with a knife.

Police said they found Baughan huddled in a corner, a knife at his feet, and yelling for someone to shoot him.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski, left, and Julie Miller, deputy chief defender at the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, examine questions submitted by jury members in the trial of Kevin Baughan in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Thursday.

Lt. Douglas Krueger, of the Alpena Fire Department, said Baughan went limp and seemed unconscious after police removed him from the house. Baughan responded to stimuli in a way not typical for someone truly unconscious, however, the firefighter/paramedic said.

“It tells me that he’s faking it,” Krueger said.

The trial resumes today with testimony from Baughan and an investigator, who will prove to the jury, Bayot said, that the gasoline incident was, at worse, an attempted suicide, or, at least, “a futile, stupid attempt to get attention.”

A person convicted of attempted murder could be sentenced to up to life in prison.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.