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Jury undecided in attempted murder trial

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski speaks to the jury in a trial in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Friday, watched by Judge Ed Black.

ALPENA — An uncertain jury could not reach a decision Friday in the trial of Kevin Baughan, accused of attempting to burn down an Alpena home and kill several people inside.

Baughan, 32, faces accusations he intentionally spilled gasoline in the home’s kitchen and dining room and then attempted to light a lighter in December of 2020.

The lighter never left his pocket, and he had no memory of making threats or pouring the gasoline inside the house, Baughan testified on Friday in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court.

After final testimony from Baughan and a private investigator, attorneys finished closing statements mid-afternoon on Friday and put the trial into the jurors’ hands around 4 p.m.

Jurors could not reach a consensus by 9 p.m. and broke for the weekend. They will return to continue deliberations on Monday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Julie Miller, deputy chief defender at the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, speaks to the jury in a trial in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Friday, watched by Judge Ed Black.

On the trial’s third day of testimony, Baughan described strained relationships leading to tension in the home he shared with his fiancee, Amanda Ellis, along with Ellis’s sister, another man, and four children.

That tension boiled over into a heated fight, including accusations of infidelity and disagreements about money, Baughan said.

To prove he had spent money responsibly, Baughan picked up a recently purchased can of gasoline — its lid and spout removed because he had been mixing in an additive for use in a snow blower, he said, — and brought it into the house to show Ellis, Baughan testified.

At that point, Baughan said, he blacked out, returning to consciousness to find himself holding the gas can, surrounded by the smell of gasoline, and “screaming for everybody to get out.”

Baughan claimed Elllis pushed him against a wall and punched him in the face. After another loss of full consciousness, he found himself in the home’s basement, turning off the power, and then sitting in a corner of the kitchen as police arrived, he told the jury.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski speaks to the jury in a trial in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Friday, watched by Judge Ed Black.

Baughan claimed no memory of pouring gasoline on the floor and on himself, as Ellis had described, but said he could have done so during his alleged blackout.

Ellis and her sister both said Baughan tried to light a yellow lighter after he threatened to burn the house and kill everyone inside, although the women offered conflicting stories about how the lighter got out of Baughan’s grasp and where it went.

That lighter never left his pocket — as far as he knew — until it fell onto the kitchen floor as police carried him out of the house, Baughan said.

Baughan said he doesn’t remember telling police to shoot him when they arrived, as an officer had testified.

The same officer said the yellow lighter fell from Baughan’s pocket as police were carrying him out of the house. A second lighter was found in another of Baughan’s pockets.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Rick Rafferty, left, investigator hired by the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, testifies in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Friday, questioned by attorney Julie Miller under the supervision of Judge Ed Black.

In a 911 call made shortly before police arrived, Baughan told a dispatcher he had poured gasoline in the house, according to a police officer who said he heard the recording.

Neither the recording — which the officer said was partially unintelligible — nor a transcript were shared with the jury.

Even small-town residents are not immune from “the darkness that can sometimes dwell behind closed doors,” Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski told the jury during her closing statement.

Baughan had time to choose his actions — and time to change his mind about trying to ignite the house — but didn’t, Muszynski said.

Even if Baughan told Elllis she and the others should leave, as Ellis testified on Thursday, the defendant gave them no time to get out of the house, demonstrating his intent to kill them, Muszynski said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Kevin Baughan testifies in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Friday.

Deputy Chief Defender Julie Miller, of the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, questioned the truthfulness of Ellis’s sister, a key witness who said she did nothing to try to rescue her children until after allegedly watching Baughan pour the fuel and attempt to light the lighter.

“You can talk about fight, fright, freeze, whatever,” Miller told the jury in her closing. “But, when you’re a mother and your kids are at risk, what else is there?”

When his first lighter failed to work, he could have pulled out his other lighter — but didn’t, “because he didn’t intend to burn that house down,” Miller told the jury. “He didn’t intend to kill those people.”

Baughan faces multiple charges of attempted murder and attempted arson. He has been held without bond at the Alpena County Jail since December 2020.

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

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