Accused killer Stephanie Erends takes stand

Accused killer Stephanie Nicole Erends on Monday said her victim trash-talked her – saying she slept with "a whole bunch of people" and looked "foul" when having sex.It was her simmering rage at those remarks – and not a methodical pre-planned scheme – that led Erends to slash Alicia Ernst's throat on the outskirts of Roseville on March 8, 2008, she said."I didn't know why she was treating me that way," Erends, 26, said. "It was just the fact she was supposed to be my friend. Heck, it was my birthday." The claim came during testimony in which Erends, dressed in a cream sweater and ankle-length black skirt, took the stand to offer a different take on how the gruesome killing went down.Prosecutors have charged her with first-degree murder with a special allegation of lying in wait, based partly on Erends' own extensive conversations with investigators.But on Monday, Erends said her confession of planning the killing moths prior was a lie in order to get police off her back. In that version of events, Erends said she plotted to kill Ernst, 24, after Ernst poured acid down her throat.Erends could face a lessened sentence if jurors find she didn't plan the killing in advance.In Monday's daylong testimony, Erends rarely looked up and in hushed tones discussed her drug-filled childhood and what she said happened on that fateful night.The two longtime friends had been getting high at a friend's house the night of March 7 when Ernst made the comments about Erends' body and sexual habits, Erends said. In the early morning, the two left in Erends' car. Erends drove to the spot – a drinking hangout – to delay going home until her grandmother, whom she was living with, left for work, she said.That's when Erends brought up Ernst's comments, Erends said."She just tried to laugh it off and said it was funny," Erends said.Enraged, Erends said she backhanded her."She never suspected I would do it. We just started fighting." Eventually, Erends said she reached for a wallpaper tool that she had bought for work."I don't know what I was thinking. I knew I wanted to hurt her," she said."Then what?" Jonathan Richter, her defense attorney, asked."I was pressing it down on her. She was trying to get me off. She was yelling at me," Erends said.Erends said the two of them stumbled out the passenger's side door. "At some point did Alicia stop struggling?" Richter asked."Yes," Erends answered. "Afterward, what was going through your mind?" Richter asked."I was panicked. Kind of shocked. I remember realizing someone was going to get severely hurt during all that." **Remorse asserted, motives questioned**Richter spent much of the day establishing Erends' remorse. In numerous prison letters to pen pals, Erends wrote of suicidal thoughts and seeking forgiveness. But prosecutor Garen Horst tore into Erends' story, questioning her motive for changing it. "You're coming up with this version of events for a lesser sentence, aren't you?" he asked. Erends replied "no," but Horst produced letters to pen pals showing it was only after Erends learned she wouldn't be eligible for conjugal visits if she received life in prison that she decided to "put up a little bit of a fight," as she wrote.And he asked why jurors should believe her now after she admitted to lying in her original story to police.Moreover, Horst suggested Erends' story of confessing to planning the killing because she wanted police off her back just didn't hold up. After all, she could have told them her current story just as easily, he said.Erends' trial is expected to last through mid-December.