Richard Proctor, on trial for first-degree murder for the stabbing of 28-year-old Ryan Connell, sobbed Wednesday on the witness stand while claiming innocence.
“I know I didn’t kill him,” Proctor told jurors as he recounted the events of Jan. 1, 2020, when a New Year’s Eve party at his Steger apartment ended in Connell’s death.
About 10 of Connell’s family members were present Wednesday, many of whom have been present for all eight days of the trial at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.
Proctor testified he and Connell were close friends since 2013 and frequently partied together, partaking in drugs and alcohol. Proctor said Connell instigated the fight that left him fatally wounded.
Proctor said Connell was not fond of his cousin’s friends who showed up to the party. While Proctor said Connell initiated the fight, he admitted to delivering a punch that knocked Connell down.
“I fought him back and I knocked him down, how hard, I don’t know,” Proctor said. “I don’t recall the amount of times I hit him but it wasn’t enough to hurt him.”
Proctor said he pulled a knife out of Connell that night, but said because of his heavy consumption of drugs and alcohol he could not remember who put the knife in Connell’s back.
“Once I started drinking, I can’t really stop drinking,” he said.
After knocking Connell down, Proctor said he left the apartment to calm down.
“When I went back to the house, I don’t remember,” he said.
While he could not recall how the knife came to be inside Connell, Proctor said his then-girlfriend, Hannah Kuckuck, who was at the party, asked him, “What did you do?”
Proctor said he fled the apartment, running a mile to his Aunt Renee Proctor’s home because Kuckuck threatened to call the police if he did not leave.
“She said she’s gonna call the cops on me and put everything on me if I didn’t leave,” he testified..
When questioned on why he did not call police to report his friend’s death, Proctor said he was hysterically crying and did not have “the mind for it” given how much he drank.
Proctor identified Connell’s blood on the cream-colored sweater he wore that night, which photos showed was splattered on the lower part of the sleeves. Still, Proctor maintains he is not responsible for Connell’s death.
“I didn’t know what to do” Proctor said when he got to his aunt’s home.
“My aunt opened the door and I’m crying, hysterically can’t stop crying because my best friend is gone and there’s nothing I can do about it,” he said.
Proctor, who is representing himself in the trial, was held in criminal contempt Tuesday by Judge Kenneth Zelazo after a series of outbursts, including one in front of the jury, due to his frustration while presenting his case.
Proctor faces penalties of a maximum $500 fine and up to six months in jail, but penalties are largely determined by the judge. Zelazo said Tuesday he will address the contempt charges at a later date.
The trial is expected to continue Thursday.
