XAVIER ASHLINE - 3 Months (2010) - Bath (SE of Buffalo) NY

Bath NY ---- A 23-year-old man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and
their 3-month-old son on Father’s Day had been ordered to stay away from
the woman. Police Chief David Rouse said 25-year-old Trieste
Clayton had gotten an order of protection against Bryan Ashline after he
was charged with assaulting her last August in Watervliet, the Albany
County city where they lived at the time. After that attack,
Clayton moved back to Bath and into the duplex where she and son Xavier
Ashline were stabbed to death Sunday night. Rouse said the attack
happened shortly before police were sent to the home to follow up on a
911 call just after 10:30. Police found both victims dead. Ashline
was arrested Monday morning in Otsego County by police who used the
tracking system on his vehicle. He was expected to be charged with
second-degree murder, Rouse said. Rouse had no details about the
Albany County case or the resolution of the third-degree assault charge.
News of Clayton’s death devastated her co-workers at the Village
Tavern Restaurant & Inn in Hammondsport, where she had worked as a
waitress before going to college and then after moving back to town,
owner Maryann Geisz said. Geisz said Clayton left Ashline because
he had been violent but was open to letting him see their son. “I
just don’t understand it. We’re just devastated,” Geisz said of the
attack. “We saw her baby and we heard every little thing he was
doing,” Geisz said. “[Clayton] was just saying how she thought he was
ticklish under his arms because he was giggling when she took his shirt
off. She loved him.”

In the end, it may have been kindness that caused the Father’s Day
stabbing deaths of a Steuben County woman and her 3-month-old son,
allegedly at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, the baby’s father.
It was shortly before 11 p.m. on June 20 when Trieste Rene Clayton,
25, and Xavier Michael Ashline were killed in the kitchen of their
rented duplex in the village of Bath. Bryan M. Ashline, 23, of
Watervliet, is charged two counts of murder.
Christina Lambert, 26, of Latham, disapproved of her dear friend’s
relationship with Ashline. She talked recently of her own distrust of
him and of what he might do to Clayton.
“A couple of days before she was murdered, she texted me that ‘I’m
finally happy,’?” Lambert recalled. “She had told Bryan they would
never be together.”
Yet “she wanted to be a good mother and have him see his son” on
Father’s Day, Lambert said. “Her compassion killed her in the end.”
“My heart and mind and gut tells me from that text that she stood up
for herself, and he couldn’t take that, because she had always been
timid with him,” the friend said.
“He grabbed a kitchen knife,” Lambert said officials told relatives.
Village Police Chief David Rouse has said a knife was recovered at
the scene, but he declined to give details about the weapon.
Lambert flashed back to last Aug. 18, when, she said, Ashline,
having learned Clayton was pregnant, came home to their Watervliet
apartment drunk and beat, choked and kicked her. He was charged with
third-degree assault and second-degree harassment.
On Nov. 24, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault count and was
issued a five-year order of protection, according to Watervliet City
Court records. Ashline had been on three years of probation since 2007,
when he pleaded guilty to burglary and harassment in an unrelated
case.
Steuben County District Attorney John C. Tunney said he expects the
double-murder case to be presented to a grand jury this month. He said
last week he was awaiting an autopsy report on the victims and declined
to discuss specifics of the case.
Ashline, a standout basketball player and 2004 graduate of
Watervliet High School, is being held without bail at the Steuben
County Jail on two counts of second-degree murder. He was arraigned
June 21 and appeared again June 28 before Bath Town Court Justice James
H. Burns where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr was assigned to represent
Ashline. Several attempts were made to reach Stahr without success.
Troopers arrested Ashline around 5 a.m. June 21 as he slept at a
Unadilla, Otsego County, rest area on Interstate 88 after allegedly
leaving Bath a few hours earlier. The 2010 blue Chevrolet Impala he had
borrowed to drive from his 23rd Street home in Watervliet to Bath,
about 60 miles south of Rochester, was tracked by the car’s OnStar
vehicle security system.
“There was evidence of the incident in the car in which he was
found,” Tunney said. “Clearly, there was evidence obtained. A search
warrant was executed on the car, and evidence pertinent to the
investigation was found in that vehicle.”
When the call came from Clayton’s family that her friend was dead,
Lambert immediately drove to Bath to be with Clayton’s mother, Cynthia
Watson, and her sisters.
Watson, a math teacher at Haverling High School, said Friday in a
phone interview that Clayton was the oldest of her three daughters. The
girls also have two stepbrothers, she said.
Watson said she’s been advised by authorities not to talk about the
incident, but was told by officials that Ashline used a kitchen knife.
Lambert and Clayton developed a friendship two years ago when they
worked together in a Troy bar, where Lambert was a bartender and
Clayton a server. Both had psychology degrees, Lambert from the
University of Albany, Clayton from Alfred University, from which she
graduated in 2006.
“She moved here to relocate from a small town,” Lambert said. When
the two women met, Clayton had been dating Ashline for a few months.
Clayton lived in Troy until she and Ashline moved in together in
Watervliet. While their apartment was being renovated, Clayton lived
for a time with Ashline’s family, Lambert said.
“He was very possessive and jealous of friendships,” Lambert said.
“I was never allowed at the house, even though I would still go, he
didn’t want me there.”
“She’s not an argumentative person,” Lambert said of Clayton. “She’s
sweet, soft-spoken, the kindest girl I will ever meet.”
After the August attack, Lambert said, she took pictures so Clayton
could get an order of protection. She received a “no-illegal-contact
order,” which meant the couple could continue to see each other as long
as certain activity, such as harassment, stalking, assault, menacing
and intimidation did not occur, Watervliet Police Chief Ronald Boisvert
said last month.
“That day (in August) was the final attack,” Lambert said. “The next
day her family came and brought her back to Bath.”
The friends talked daily, and Lambert visited Clayton and the baby.
Lambert adored Xavier, who was born in March. Everything centered on
her baby, Lambert said. That is evident from Clayton’s Facebook
writings and the photos of the mother and child.
The mother and baby were buried in the same coffin. Included were
messages written by Lambert. To her friend she wrote, “I saw in you a
quiet strength, unmatched compassion and intelligence, and a beauty
that went far beneath the surface. You were the most loyal and caring
friend I could have ever asked for, and you will continue to be that
special friend to me until my last breath.”

Double homicide suspect held without bail
Last update Jun 21, 2010 @ 06:49 PM
Bath, N.Y. — Bryan M. Ashline, 23, of Watervliet was apprehended this morning by state police in connection with the murder of his ex-girlfriend and their 3-month-old son in the Village of Bath Sunday.

Ashline was charged with two counts of second-degree murder — class A felonies — and arraigned by Bath town Judge James Burns. Steuben County District Attorney John Tunney presided over the proceeding, where Burns ruled that Ashline would be held without bail.

According to court documents, Ashline stabbed his ex-girlfriend Trieste R. Clayton, 25, with a knife in the neck and back and stabbed his son Xavier Michael Ashline once in the chest at their duplex home on Mount View Road West in the Village of Bath. Police Chief David Rouse said the murder weapon was recovered from the scene, but did not say what type of knife it was. Bryan Ashline had a bandaged right hand, but police did not say if it was a result of the incident.

Rouse said that at 10:49 p.m. Sunday the Steuben County 911 Center dispatched village police units to 9 Mount View Road West for the report of an open phone line. Village patrols arrived five minutes later and discovered the bodies of Clayton and Xavier Ashline in a small bloody kitchen.

Bryan Ashline allegedly fled the scene in a 2010 blue Chevrolet Impala. At approximately 5:05 a.m. today, On-Star — a car safety notification device that has the ability to track vehicles by satellite — notified troopers that the Impala had been located at the Unadilla Rest Area of Interstate 88 in the Otsego County. Bryan Ashline was found sleeping in the vehicle and was taken into custody without incident.

“He was probably heading back up to his home, Albany County,” said Rouse.

The suspect was then transported to the Bath police department where he was interrogated for several hours. Officials released few details about the interviews.

Bryan Ashline was covertly transported to an undisclosed location for a period of time, but returned to the station shortly after.

“There was an issue with the clothes he was wearing,” said Rouse, without elaborating.

Bryan Ashline had previously been charged with third-degree assault after an August 2009 incident resulted in Clayton obtaining an order of protection from Watervliet city court.

He told Burns he was employed with a contractor in Watervliet, but had no money to pay for the public defender he requested. He further told the judge he does not own an automobile and has no other assets other than around $100 in savings bonds.

Ashline was escorted into the courtroom by ten police officers amidst dozens of bystanders, many of which screamed obscenities, called him a "baby killer" and asked him why it happened on Father's Day. He was clad in black and white jumpsuit and walked with his head down, not bothering to shield hid face from dozens of reporters and cameras.

Clayton, a 2003 Bath-Haverling High School graduate, was employed as a bartender at the Village Tavern in Hammondsport. She attended college at either Alfred State College or Alfred University according to investigators, but the exact school could not be confirmed. Xavier was her only son, but Rouse said she had family in the area.

The victims were transported to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies.

“I don’t think any number of years could prepare anybody for something as tragic as this,” said Rouse.

State police offered grief counseling to emergency responders that were at the crime scene.

Bryan Ashline is scheduled to appear in Bath court at 3 p.m. June 28.

http://www.eveningtribune.com/news/x1501908929/Double-homicide-suspect-in-custody

Ashline case heads to grand jury
Posted Jul 23, 2010 @ 10:54 AM
Bath, NY — One month after Bryan Ashline allegedly killed his infant son and ex-girlfriend, his case has yet to be presented to a grand jury, although prosecutors expect to do so soon.
Ashline remains jailed without bail on two counts of second-degree murder. He is accused of stabbing to death Xavier Ashline, 3 months, and Trieste Clayton, 25, on Father’s Day in Bath.
Prosecutors have a little more than two weeks to present the case against Ashline to a grand jury. By law, a case must be presented within 45 days of an arrest, otherwise the defendant has to released from custody on his or her own recognizance.
Steuben County District Attorney John Tunney said Ashline’s case will be presented by the deadline.
If a grand jury indicts Ashline, the next step will be arraignment in county court, followed by procedural movement toward a trial or a plea bargain.
Ashline, 23, of Albany County, allegedly killed Xavier and Clayton shortly before 11 p.m. June 20 at Clayton’s Montview Road West home.
Xavier was stabbed in the chest, and Clayton was stabbed in the neck and the back.
Police believe Ashline killed both after a domestic dispute. He was in Bath to see his son for Father’s Day, though Clayton’s family reportedly advised against the visit.
Clayton had been issued an order of protection after Ashline was charged with pushing and choking her in August 2009.
Ashline was arrested around 5 a.m. June 21 at a rest stop off Interstate Highway 88 in Otsego County. He was presumably on his way back to Albany County when he was arrested by state police.
Ashline faces life in prison if convicted.

http://www.steubencourier.com/features/x2069641756/Ashline-case-heads-to-grand-jury

The Watervliet man charged with the Father's Day stabbing deaths of his former girlfriend and their 3-month-old son pleaded not guilty Monday in Steuben County Court to first-degree murder counts and other charges.



Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Not-guilty-plea-in-murder-case-599794.php#ixzz1LV8nIlWr

Bath, N.Y. —


Bryan Ashline is scheduled to go on trial next week for the Father’s
Day 2010 murder of his infant son and the boy’s mother in Bath.

Jury selection is slated to start Thursday and is expected to take
multiple days. Testimony will likely begin early the following week.

Ashline, 24, could receive life without parole if he is convicted of
murdering 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and 25-year-old Trieste Clayton. He
is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of
second-degree murder and two other felonies.

Ashline plans to use a psychiatric defense. His attorney, Assistant
Public Defender Thomas Stahr, will claim Ashline acted under the
influence of extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killings.

According to the statute for extreme emotional disturbance, a defendant
is not guilty of murder if “the defendant acted under the influence of
extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable
explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined
from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under the
circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.”

Xavier and Clayton were stabbed to death around 11 p.m. June 20, 2010,
at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment. According to police, Ashline
killed the pair during a domestic dispute.

Ashline, of suburban Albany, was in Bath to see his son for Father’s
Day. Friends and family had advised Clayton not to allow Ashline to
visit. She had an order of protection against him after he was charged
with pushing and choking her in August 2009.

State police arrested Ashline the next day at a rest stop on Interstate Highway 88 in Unadilla.

He was presumably on his way home to the Albany area.

He is being held in the Steuben County Jail without bail.
http://www.the-leader.com/features/x1968428399/Ashline-trial-set-for-next-week

Trial date nears for Ashline


By Staff reports
Bath Courier
Posted Oct 16, 2011 @ 01:00 PM

Bryan Ashline’s double-murder trial is slated to begin Thursday, after a court-ordered psychiatric review.
Ashline, 24, was scheduled to go on trial in late July for the alleged killings of his infant son and the boy’s mother on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two other felonies.
However, Steuben County Judge Joseph Latham pushed back the trial to October after Ashline’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr, filed a late application to use a psychiatric defense. Latham said had he denied the late application, a potential conviction could be overturned on appeal.
Stahr reportedly plans to claim Ashline acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance when he killed 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and Trieste Clayton, 25.
The statute for extreme emotional disturbance reads a defendant is not guilty of murder if “the defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.”
The killings took place around 11 p.m. June 20, 2010 at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment. According to police, Ashline killed the pair during a domestic dispute with Clayton.
Ashline, of suburban Albany, was in Bath to see his son for Father’s Day. Friends and family had advised Clayton not to allow Ashline to visit. She had an order of protection against him after he was charged with pushing and choking her in August 2009.
Ashline was arrested the next day at a rest stop on Interstate Highway 88 in Unadilla. He was presumably on his way home to the Albany area when he was arrested by state police.
Ashline is being held in the Steuben County Jail without bail.
If convicted of the most serious charge against him, Ashline faces life in prison without parole. New York state does not have the death penalty.

http://www.steubencourier.com/features/x485789567/Trial-date-nears-for-Ashline

Double-murder trial gets started
Watervliet man on trial in Steuben County killings of ex-girlfriend, their son
By CAROL DEMARE Staff writer
Published 09:25 p.m., Thursday, October 20, 2011

Six jurors were seated Thursday in Steuben County Court in the trial of a Watervliet man charged with traveling to the Finger Lakes region last year and fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend and their 3-month-old son.
Bryan Ashline, 25, who had lived on 23rd Street, is accused of murdering Trieste Rene Clayton, 25, and Xavier Michael Ashline at about 11 p.m. on June 20, 2010, Father's Day, in the kitchen of Clayton's rented duplex in the village of Bath.
Steuben County District Attorney John C. Tunney, who is prosecuting the case, said four men and two women were seated before County Judge Joseph W. Latham. Ashline is represented by Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr. Jury selection continues Friday, and Tunney expects the trial to go into early November.
The DA said the defense attorney "indicated he intends to raise extreme emotional disturbance as a defense."
Ashline pleaded not guilty and has been held at the county jail since his arrest shortly after the incident. He faces two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree intentional murder, aggravated criminal contempt and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Clayton, a 2006 graduate of Alfred University with a psychology degree, relocated to the Capital Region from her small community in the Finger Lakes region. She began dating Ashline, and they moved in together.
Christina Lambert of Latham, who was friends with Clayton, described the relationship as rocky. Lambert said Ashline beat, choked and kicked Clayton when he learned she was pregnant.
That was in August 2009. He was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment. The next day Clayton's family came to Watervliet and brought her back to Bath, Lambert said.
Ashline pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was issued a five-year order of protection. A 2004 graduate of Watervliet High School and standout basketball player, he had been on three years of probation since 2007, when he pleaded guilty to burglary and harassment in an unrelated case.
Last year, Watervliet Police Chief Ronald Boisvert explained that Clayton received a "no-illegal-contact order," which meant the couple could continue to see each other as long as unlawful activity, including harassment, stalking, assault, menacing and intimidation, did not occur.
"A couple of days before she was murdered, she texted me that 'I'm finally happy,'" Lambert had said. "She had told Bryan they would never be together." Yet "she wanted to be a good mother and have him see his son" on Father's Day. "Her compassion killed her in the end."
"My heart and mind and gut tell me from that text that she stood up for herself, and he couldn't take that because she had always been timid with him," the friend said.
Troopers arrested Ashline around 5 a.m. on June 21, 2010, as he slept at a Unadilla, Otsego County, rest area on Interstate 88 after allegedly leaving Bath a few hours earlier.
The 2010 blue Chevrolet Impala he had borrowed to drive from his Watervliet home to Bath, about 60 miles south of Rochester, was tracked by the car's OnStar vehicle security system.


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Double-murder-trial-gets-started-2228997.php#ixzz1bQiCChir

Ashline defense: It wasn’t murder

Posted Oct 24, 2011 @ 09:42 PM

Bryan Ashline killed his 3-month-old son and the boy’s mother on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath, but was it murder?

On the first day of Ashline’s trial Monday in Steuben County Court, the 25-year-old man’s attorney told the jury his client was responsible for the deaths of Xavier Ashline and Trieste Clayton, 25.

“This case is not a whodunit,” Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr said during opening statements. “(Ashline) took the action that ended their lives … I am not going to ask you to acquit this man.”

But, Stahr said, Ashline acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance – an affirmative defense – and should be found guilty of a lesser homicide charge, not murder.

Ashline, of Watervliet, is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies. He is accused of stabbing to death Xavier and Clayton late June 20, 2010.

He was visiting Xavier for Father’s Day. Clayton’s family and friends had advised against the visit because Ashline was charged with pushing and choking Clayton in 2009, when they were living in the Albany area.
District Attorney John Tunney said there is “no question” the evidence will prove murder.

“Extreme emotional disturbance doesn’t exist to reward people for getting even madder,” he said.

According to Tunney, Ashline went to Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment and attempted to leave with Xavier. He took the baby from his crib, and Clayton blocked the door, Tunney said. It was then Ashline “started to lose it,” Tunney said.

Ashline, during police questioning, told investigators it was “‘accurate’” that if he couldn’t have Xavier, neither could Clayton, Tunney said.

Later, Ashline told police, “‘I should have let him live,’” Tunney said.

After opening statements, Tunney called six witnesses to the stand and played 911 recordings between Clayton and a dispatcher the night of the killings. Much of what was played was inaudible in the courtroom, but Tunney said the moment of Clayton’s death is captured in the tapes.

At 10:51 p.m. the night of the killings, Clayton called 911 for at least the second time – at 10:44 p.m., Clayton made her first 911 call, but there was no conversation with the dispatcher.

In the second recorded call from Clayton, she clearly tells the dispatcher, “9 Mountview Road West – Right now!”

An infant’s cry could be heard in the background.

After, Clayton apparently lost control of her phone and began screaming before becoming silent.

Tunney said Clayton was stabbed 10-12 times, including once in the base of her neck, a wound that killed her instantly. Xavier suffered a total of three stab wounds, Tunney said.

In addition to the 911 tapes and the dispatcher, the jury heard testimony Monday from five members of the New York State Police.

Four of them testified about Ashline’s arrest at a rest stop on Interstate 88 in Unadilla. He was on his way home to the Albany area when he was apprehended by two troopers, who found him sleeping in his car.

The troopers said there was blood in Ashline’s car and on his clothes, and he had suffered a large gash to one of his hands.

While taking Ashline into custody, one of the troopers asked where the knife was, and Ashline responded, “‘It’s at the scene, the knife’s at the scene,’” Trooper Matthew Holecek testified.

Ashline faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the most serious offenses.

Testimony continues at 9:30 a.m. today before Judge Joseph Latham.

http://www.the-leader.com/features/x1872808812/Ashline-defense-It-wasn-t-murder

Ashline trial: Victim's mother recalls finding daughter, grandson dead
Posted Oct 25, 2011 @ 09:57 PM

Testimony in Bryan Ashline’s double murder trial took a personal turn Tuesday when Cynthia Watson testified in graphic detail about finding her daughter and grandson dead on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath.

“The first thing I saw was the baby,” Watson told the jury. “The baby had a knife in his chest – like he was poked into the floor. Then I looked up and saw my daughter with her arms stretched out, and blood was everywhere.”

Watson testified that, upon her arrival, she didn’t know if her daughter was alive, but “I knew the baby wasn’t.”

Watson was the mother of Trieste Clayton, 25, and grandmother of three-month-old Xavier Ashline, who were stabbed to death June 20, 2010, at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment in Bath.

Ashline, 25, of the Albany area, is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies for allegedly killing the victims – his ex-girlfriend and their son – during a domestic dispute.

Xavier was stabbed three times, and Clayton was stabbed 10-12 times, including one wound that severed her spinal cord. Both died at the scene.

Ashline was in Bath to see his son for Father’s Day. Clayton’s family and friends had advised against the visit because he had been charged with pushing and choking her in August 2009.

Before recalling the scene for the jury, Watson detailed the horror she felt when she received a call from Clayton around 10:45 p.m. that night. She said she immediately knew something was terribly wrong.

She told the jury that she knew Ashline was at Clayton’s home, and she had worried about her daughter’s safety.

“All she said was, ‘Mom, hurry!’” Watson said. She added that she immediately woke up her husband, Scott Watson, and told him “something was wrong with (Clayton), Bryan was down and we had to go.”

Scott Watson also took the witness stand Tuesday. His testimony was nearly identical to his wife’s.

“Trieste was laying on the floor in a pool of blood with her arms stretched out toward Xavier,” Scott Watson said. “Xavier was lying in a pool of blood with a kitchen knife sticking out of his stomach …”

Jurors on Monday heard recordings of calls Clayton made to 911 around the time she called her mother. In the tapes, Clayton tells the dispatcher she needs help “right now,” which was followed by horrific screams and then silence.

Ashline’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr, admitted in opening statements that his client is responsible for the deaths, but said Ashline was not guilty of murder because he was acting under the influence of extreme emotional distress. He wants Ashline found guilty of a lesser homicide charge.

District Attorney John Tunney continued to present evidence Tuesday to counter Stahr’s claims.

An investigator who interviewed Ashline following his arrest – he was taken into custody around 5 a.m. June 21, 2010, at a rest step on Interstate 88 in Unadilla while on his way home to Watervliet – testified that Ashline told police he wasn’t in a “rage” at the time of the killings.

“(But) he said he definitely was not in control,” state police Sr. Inv. Rick Kemp said.

Kemp and former Bath Police Department Inv. David Dubois both testified that Ashline showed little emotion and was calm and polite during the interviews. Both said he didn’t appear to be in shock.

The investigators said Ashline was very cooperative but would not talk specifically about the act of stabbing, testifying that Ashline said it wasn’t in his “best interest.”

Also, Ashline told the investigators that he only got “aggressive” after he was stabbed first by Clayton.

According to Dubois’ testimony, Ashline said he was trying to leave Clayton’s apartment with Xavier, but Clayton wouldn’t allow it. Ashline said Clayton tackled him, choked him and then pulled a knife on him, according to testimony. Then, while holding Xavier, Clayton swung the knife at him, Ashline told the investigators.

When he was arrested, Ashline had a large gash on one of his hands, according to testimony.

Testimony will resume at 9:30 a.m. today in Steuben County Court. Judge Joseph Latham is presiding over the trial.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x493113489/Ashline-trial-Victims-mother-recalls-finding-daughter-grandson-dead

Testimony: Ashline emotionless, unable to cry after killings

Posted Oct 26, 2011 @ 09:34 PM

Bryan Ashline was admittedly emotionless and unable to cry after he allegedly killed his infant son and ex-girlfriend on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath, but silent tears fell from many Wednesday at the man’s murder trial when graphic crime scene photos were shown to the jury.

Ashline, 25, of Watervliet in the Albany area, is accused of stabbing to death 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and Trieste Clayton, 25, on June 20, 2010.

His attorney, Thomas Stahr, says he is responsible for the killings but is guilty of manslaughter, not murder, because he acted under an extreme emotional disturbance.

Before seeing the crime scene photos Wednesday, the jury heard statements Ashline made to police the day after the killings. Ashline said he felt “emotionless” and “couldn’t understand why (he) couldn’t cry,” Bath Police Department Inv. Heather Wheaton testified. He also seemingly couldn’t find an answer for why he allegedly killed his son.

“I can see me taking me and her out, but I cannot see taking his life,” Ashline’s written statement said. “There was no point in taking Xavier’s life. I should have let him live.”

When pressed as to why he allegedly killed his son, Ashline told Inv. Wheaton he had no real answer, she testified, but he said it was “accurate” that if he couldn’t have Xavier, neither could Clayton.

The crime scene photos showed the brutality of the killings. Many of the victims’ family and friends wept softly as the photos were displayed. Ashline sat quietly with his head down, as he has for most of the trial.

Several of the photos – including a horrifying close-up view -- showed Xavier lying on his back with a knife penetrating his torso. Clayton was lying on her stomach nearby. They died in the kitchen.

A large pool of blood was adjacent to Clayton, and other blood spatter was elsewhere in the kitchen.

In speaking about the crime scene photos, a state police investigator testified that four knives were involved in the incident. All appeared to have been from a butcher’s block in Clayton’s apartment.

In his written statements, Ashline told police his version of events:

• He arrived at Clayton’s apartment around 12:05 a.m. June 20, 2010. He was allowed to visit for Father’s Day. He and Clayton talked until about 1:30 a.m., when he went to sleep on the couch.

• Ashline woke up about 7:30 a.m. and got Xavier from his crib. Ashline dressed and fed Xavier. Later, the three acted like a “family” and went for a walk. Also, they had dinner together. Clayton took a nap from 5-7 p.m. while Ashline played with Xavier. Between 9-9:30 p.m., Xavier went to sleep.

• About an hour later, Ashline decided it was time to go home to the Albany area, and he decided he was taking Xavier with him. He wanted to take Xavier home to Watervliet for a family event the following weekend, but Trieste wouldn’t allow it. He learned in May how much Xavier meant to him.

• Ashline went and got the child from his crib, at which time Clayton confronted Ashline. She choked him and tackled him while he was holding Xavier. Shortly thereafter, she stabbed him in the right hand. She also called her mother and 911, which made Ashline “panicky.” The cut to his right hand, though, was the tipping point. Ashline has a “fight mentality” when he is physically attacked.

Ashline, who had a large gash on his hand when he was arrested, declined to talk about stabbing Clayton, but he told investigators there was a knife in Xavier. He said he knew Xavier was dead, but was unsure about Clayton’s fate.

Ashline was gone from the apartment by the time police and Clayton’s mother and stepfather – Cynthia and Scott Watson – arrived minutes after the calls. Both Watsons testified Tuesday about finding Clayton and Xavier dead.
Cynthia Watson also testified about Ashline attacking Clayton in August 2009, when the couple lived together near Albany. Clayton was found with handprints on her neck and other bruises, and police issued an order of protection.

Immediately after the domestic incident, Clayton moved back to Steuben County, and she gave birth to Xavier in March, according to testimony. Cynthia Watson testified that she told Clayton not to allow Ashline back into her life.

In three days of testimony in Steuben County Court, District Attorney John Tunney has called 14 witnesses to testify. He’s expected to call approximately a half dozen more.

The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. today in Steuben County Court. Judge Joseph Latham is presiding over the trial.
Ashline is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies. If convicted of first-degree murder, Ashline faces life in prison without parole. New York state does not have the death penalty.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x742510001/Testimony-Ashline-emotionless-unable-to-cry-after-killings

Investigator: Baby killed after mom already dead

By John Zick
Corning Leader
Posted Oct 27, 2011 @ 10:27 PM

Trieste Clayton was holding her infant son when she was killed instantly by a knife wound to her neck, and the baby was stabbed to death on the floor after falling from his mother’s arms, according to testimony Thursday at the trial of their accused killer, the boy’s father.

Bryan Ashline, 25, of Watervliet in the Albany area, is accused of killing Clayton and 3-month-old Xavier Ashline around 10:50 p.m. Father’s Day 2010 at Clayton’s Mount-view Road West apartment in Bath. He allegedly stabbed both during a domestic dispute with Clayton, his ex-girlfriend.

State police Inv. Michael Lostracco testified Thursday that his analysis of the crime scene led him to the conclusion that Clayton was holding Xavier in her arms when Bryan Ashline allegedly began stabbing her repeatedly. She suffered at least 10 stab wounds.

Clayton kept hold of Xavier during the attack until one of the knife thrusts penetrated the back of her neck and severed her spinal cord, Lostracco said. The wound caused immediate death, and Xavier fell to the floor next to his mother, the investigator testified.

After Xavier was dropped to the floor, Ashline allegedly used a butcher knife to stab him in the heart and then the abdomen, Lostracco said.

Lostracco said analyzing all the evidence led him to his conclusion. In part, he noted that two pieces of a broken knife used to attack Clayton were found under Xavier, and blood evidence showed Clayton was on her feet when the attack began.

To wrap up Lostracco’s testimony, District Attorney John Tunney replayed 911 calls Clayton made the night of the killings. Lostracco reconstructed his view of the events using the recordings, which captured both deaths.

Ashline is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr, admits Ashline is responsible for the killings but claims he is guilty of manslaughter because he suffered from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killings.

Despite the admission, Tunney is required to prove Ashline killed his son and ex-girlfriend.

As he continued to build his case, Tunney introduced DNA evidence Thursday that linked Ashline to the scene. Also, at least one of the victims’ blood was found in Ashline’s car, in which Ashline was found sleeping six hours after the killings at a rest stop on Interstate 88 in Unadilla. He had been on his way home to the Albany area.
Stahr attempted to poke holes in the DNA evidence, asking the prosecution’s witness about contamination, degradation and studies in which DNA comparisons have been called into question.

Since the trial began Monday, the jury has heard the 911 recordings; witnessed crime scene photos, which included grisly images of both victims; heard from Clayton’s mother and stepfather, who arrived almost simultaneously with the police when the bodies were found; been told about a domestic incident in August 2009 in which Ashline allegedly choked and pushed Clayton; and seen incriminating statements Ashline made to police after his arrest, among other evidence.

In his statements, Ashline said he was sorry for the pain he caused his own family and the victims’ family. He said his son meant a great deal to him and didn’t have a true answer as to why he killed Xavier. He did say, however, that he wanted to take Xavier with him and Clayton wouldn’t allow it, and he indicated it was “accurate” that if he couldn’t have Xavier, neither could Clayton.

“I can see me taking me and her out, but I can not see taking his life,” according to Ashline’s written statements, which the jury viewed Wednesday. “There was no point in taking Xavier’s life. I should have let him live.”
After the killings, Ashline told police he felt “emotionless” and was unable to cry. He also stated he contemplated suicide, according to testimony.

Testimony in the trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. today in Steuben County Court. Judge Joseph Latham is presiding over the trial.

Ashline, who has been dressed in a suit during trial and has remained silent and still, faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. New York does not have the death penalty.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x671075331/Investigator-Baby-killed-after-mom-already-dead

Prosecution rests case in Ashline trial

Last update Oct 28, 2011 @ 09:32 PM

The prosecution rested its case Friday in the murder trial of Bryan Ashline, who is accused of killing his infant son and the boy’s mother on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath.

Ashline’s defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr, will have the opportunity to present evidence when the trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Steuben County Court.

In total, the prosecution called 17 witnesses to the stand over the first five days of the trial.

District Attorney John Tunney is attempting to prove Ashline murdered 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and 25-year-old Trieste Clayton during a domestic dispute June 20, 2010, at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment in Bath. Ashline, 25, of Watervliet in the Albany area, is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies.

Stahr admitted in his opening statements that Ashline is responsible for the killings, but he claims Ashline is guilty of manslaughter because he was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance at the time.

On Friday, the prosecution called its final witness, Dr. Paul Gosink, who performed autopsies on Xavier and Clayton.

Gosink said Clayton was stabbed 13 times. She was killed by an “instantly lethal” knife blow to the back of her neck just below the skull that severed her spinal cord.

Gosink said Xavier suffered three stab wounds -- one to his back that punctured a lung, one to his chest that tore his heart apart, and one to his abdomen. The two wounds to the front of the infant were forceful enough to exit his back and chip the floor underneath.

“There’s no surgeon who could ever have saved the child” from the two wounds to his front, Gosink said.

Gosink agreed with state police Inv. Michael Lostracco’s opinion that Clayton was killed before Xavier. Lostracco said his analysis determined Clayton was holding Xavier in her arms when the attack began.

While holding Xavier and on her feet, Clayton suffered the fatal blow, according to Lostracco. Xavier fell to the floor as his mother died, and Ashline then allegedly used a butcher knife to stab the child on the floor, Lostracco said.
Also, Gosink said Clayton was stabbed in the back multiple times after she was already dead.

In his statements, Ashline said he was sorry for the pain he caused his own family and the victims’ family. He said his son meant a great deal to him and didn’t have a true answer as to why he killed Xavier. He did say, however, it was “accurate” that if he couldn’t have Xavier, neither could Clayton, his ex-girlfriend.

“I can see me taking me and her out, but I can not see taking his life,” according to Ashline’s written statements, which the jury viewed Wednesday. “There was no point in taking Xavier’s life. I should have let him live.”

Ashline said he wanted to take Xavier home to Watervliet for a party the following weekend, but Clayton wouldn’t allow it. Clayton had allowed him to visit for Father’s Day.

Ashline claims she became aggressive with him and stabbed him first. He had gashes on his right hand when he was arrested the day after the killings at a rest stop on Interstate 88 in Unadilla.

Lostracco, however, said the cuts to Ashline’s hand appeared more consistent with his hand slipping onto the knife blade as the knife he was wielding struck a solid surface, such as the floor under Xavier.

In his statements, Ashline said he was “emotionless” and unable to cry after the killings. He said he contemplated suicide.

Jurors heard earlier in the week from Clayton’s mother, Cynthia Watson, who said she feared for her daughter’s safety when she was around Ashline. He had been charged with choking her and pushing her in August 2009, when they were living together in Watervliet.

Also this week, the jury viewed autopsy and haunting crime scene photos, as well as heard the 911 calls Clayton made just before she died. The deaths are captured on the 911 recordings.

Throughout most of the trial, Ashline has remained silent and still. He generally keeps his head down, especially during photo displays and disturbing testimony.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Ashline faces life in prison. New York does not have the death penalty.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x780393674/Prosecution-rests-case-in-Ashline-trial

I so wish this animal could get the death penalty. "under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance at the time" is a bunch of hogwash. He's a cold blooded killer and will kill again.

Ashline takes the stand, describes mental state

By John Zick
Corning Leader
Posted Oct 31, 2011 @ 09:34 PM

In a calm voice and a matter-of-fact tone, Bryan Ashline told a jury Monday that he killed his infant son and the boy’s mother on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath.

“I’m the one responsible for their deaths, yes,” Ashline said.

The admission came immediately upon Ashline taking the stand in his own defense Monday at his double-murder trial. The case is not a whodunit – defense attorney Thomas Stahr admitted in his opening statements that Ashline is responsible for the deaths, but he claims Ashline is guilty of man-slaughter and not murder because he acted under the influence of extreme emotional distress.

Ashline is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies for the killings of 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and 25-year-old Trieste Clayton on June 20, 2010 at the woman’s Mountview Road West apartment.

Murder is punishable by life in prison, while the maximum penalty for manslaughter is 25 years.

Ashline’s demeanor rarely changed during three hours of direct examination by his attorney. Dressed in a dark suit, Ashline was level and articulate.

He discussed the killings, what led to them, his troubled childhood, his inability to communicate his feelings or express emotion, his contemplation of suicide and his role in his son’s life.

“I felt horrible about what I did,” Ashline said. The grief is “beyond what I could ever express,” he said.

Ashline answered “I did” when Stahr asked if he stabbed his son, who suffered three knife wounds. Two of the knife thrusts – one to the chest and one to the abdomen – were so forceful that they cut entirely through Xavier’s body and chipped the floor underneath him.

“I don’t remember actually doing it,” Ashline said of stabbing his son, saying he thought he stabbed him only once.

Ashline never explained why he killed Xavier, but in his statement to police after the killings, he said, “There was no point in taking Xavier’s life. I should have let him live.”

In testifying about killing Clayton, Ashline said he “kept swinging wildly at her.” She was stabbed 13 times, and the medical examiner testified last week that she died instantly by a knife blow to the back of her neck that severed her spinal cord.

He said he killed Clayton because he lost control of his emotions when she stabbed him first. She was attempting to prevent Ashline from leaving her home with Xavier, he said.

Before speaking about the killings, Ashline told the jury about his relationship with Clayton and his version of events leading up to the incident.

According to Ashline, he met Clayton at a sports bar in the Albany area in June 2008. Clayton had moved there to further her education and branch out on her own, Ashline said.

Clayton and Ashline eventually moved in together, and in the summer of 2009, Clayton revealed she was pregnant. Ashline said he was “nervous” and “a little unsure I could be a parent.”

Clayton moved out of the couple’s apartment in mid-August 2009 after Ashline assaulted her. On Monday, Ashline said he doesn’t remember the domestic dispute because he was intoxicated.

Ashline testified he and Clayton remained in contact and even saw each other on a few occasions – both in the Albany area and in Steuben County. He said there was occasional talk about reconciliation.

On March 6, 2010, Xavier was born, but Ashline was not present for the birth.

“I had promised her I’d be there,” he said. “I was sick with myself over (not being there).”
Ashline said he first saw Xavier several weeks after the child’s birth.

“It was very nerve-racking” holding Xavier for the first time, Ashline said, adding he has a fear of babies because he believes he will “corrupt and tarnish” them. “I’m not exactly a saint. I have my issues.”

Over the next two months, Ashline and Clayton talked about becoming a family, and Ashline was no longer as nervous about being a father, he testified.

“Xavier had totally demolished all the walls I previously spoke of,” he said. “He absolutely melted my heart. I wanted to be the type of father my father wasn’t.”

In late May or early June of 2010, he said he began to fear losing a relationship with his son.

On June 20, Ashline arrived at Clayton’s apartment at 12:05 a.m., and the pair spent more than an hour talking about their relationship. Clayton re-affirmed her intentions of seeking full custody, Ashline testified.

“It made me lose hope of how much I could be part of Xavier’s life,” Ashline testified.
“She said should I ever try to take Xavier away from her, she would kill me.”

Ashline spent the day with his son and, to some extent, Clayton. He said it was “bittersweet” because he was happy to be with Xavier but upset because he didn’t know when Clayton would allow him to see his son again.

He testified that the day was an emotional rollercoaster, and by the end of the night, he decided he was going to take Xavier home to the Albany area.

“I truly began to realize how much Xavier actually meant to me,” he testified.

Ashline said he took Xavier from his crib, at which time Clayton followed him upstairs.

“I noticed she had a knife in her hand,” Ashline testified.

Clayton tried to block his exit from the bedroom and pushed him into a dresser, he testified. He finally got downstairs and was holding Xavier when Clayton jumped on his back and began choking him, he testified.

After several attempts to slip past Clayton, Ashline finally made it to the kitchen, he testified. He said Clayton continued to try to take Xavier from his arms.

Shortly thereafter, Clayton pushed Ashline into a cabinet, he testified. Clayton still had the knife, he said.

“My first instinct was to grab a knife myself,” he said.

Then, he said, Clayton tried to stab him in the face, a blow he blocked with his hand. He said he was holding Xavier when she cut him but dropped the child when he was stabbed.

Ashline had gashes on his right hand when he was arrested, but a state police investigator testified the wounds were more consistent Ashline’s hand slipping onto the blade while he stabbed a hard surface, such as the floor under Xavier.

Ashline said that after he was stabbed, he was “overwhelmed by everything” and was not in control when he began stabbing Clayton and Xavier.

Ashline, who was arrested the following day at a rest stop on Interstate 88 in Unadilla as he was attempting to get home, also told the jury he has always had difficulties expressing emotions to others, including his family.

“It’s been a pretty constant part of my life,” he said, adding that he contemplated suicide before and after the killings.

Additionally, he said he became withdrawn at a young age when he was continuously teased after a rumor that he was gay began circulating among his peers.

“After that, I put up walls,” he said.

Also Monday, Ashline’s two sisters testified on their brother’s behalf, saying Ashline had difficulties growing up.

Steuben County District Attorney John Tunney will cross-examine Ashline today when the trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. in Steuben County Court. Judge Joseph Latham is presiding over the trial.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x780398844/Ashline-takes-the-stand-describes-mental-state

Closing arguments today in Ashline case

The evidence phase of Bryan Ashline’s double-murder trial ended Tuesday, but not before the prosecution questioned the defendant about the killings of his ex-girlfriend and their infant son on Father’s Day 2010 in Bath.

Ashline, 25, of Watervliet in the Albany area, is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies for the killings of 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and 25-year-old Trieste Clayton late June 20, 2010, at the woman’s Mountview Road West apartment.

Under direct examination by defense attorney Thomas Stahr on Monday, Ashline admitted he was the killer. He is using a psychiatric defense, claiming he was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance when he killed the pair and is therefore guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

During cross examination Tuesday, District Attorney John Tunney attacked Ashline’s credibility and the notion he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. He also explored online writings from Ashline, who admitted he had previously thought about killing Clayton.

Additionally, Tunney pressed Ashline on one of the case’s most puzzling unanswered questions: Why kill Xavier?
“I honestly don’t (have an answer), sir,” Ashline said. “(It’s) almost like I was a passenger in what was going on, an observer.”

In interviews with police, Ashline said it was “accurate” that if he couldn’t have Xavier, neither could Clayton. In the same interviews, he said, “I should have let him live.”

Tunney continued pushing Ashline, reminding him Xavier was still alive when Clayton was killed. Tunney then introduced his own theory.

“You didn’t want your son growing up knowing what you did to his mother, right?” Tunney asked.
“That was not going through my mind at the time,” Ashline answered.

In attacking Ashline’s credibility, Tunney introduced entries from an online journal in which Ashline called himself “the best liar I know.” Ashline said he made the statement “sarcastically.”

Also included in the online journal were references to having crazy thoughts, including killing. In one entry from 2005 – which Ashline said was an exercise in creative writing – Ashline wrote about a man who stabs a woman to death, receives 25 years to life, and then kills himself with the same knife after he is paroled.

“That fictional character was very grief-stricken,” Ashline testified, adding that the story was an “extreme coincidence.”

Ashline did admit, however, that he had previously thought about killing Clayton and himself.

“Never Xavier,” he said. “Myself and Trieste, yes … I can’t explain the thoughts, (I’m) just merely admitting (I had) them.”

Clayton was stabbed 13 times, including the fatal blow to the back of her neck that severed her spinal cord, causing instant death. Analysis done by the state police concluded Clayton was standing up and holding Xavier when she was fatally stabbed.

The analysis also concluded Xavier was stabbed on the floor after he fell from his mother’s arms as she died. He was stabbed three times, including in the chest and abdomen.

Ashline has testified he knows he killed Xavier but has no memory of the act.

Under direct examination and in interviews with police, Ashline said he only stabbed Clayton after she attacked him first and cut him with a knife. Ashline said he was attempting to leave the apartment with Xavier, but Clayton wouldn’t allow it. Ashline said he was afraid of being left out of his son’s life.

Ashline and Clayton met in the Albany area in 2008. They moved in together the following year, but Clayton returned to Steuben County in August 2009 when Ashline assaulted her while he was drunk.

Ashline said his relationship with Clayton following the domestic dispute – and his fear of not having a relationship with his son – caused him great mental anguish.

Closing statements are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. today in Steuben County Court. They will be followed by jury instructions and deliberations.

Today will mark the eighth day of the trial, which is being overseen by Judge Joseph Latham.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x671085954/Closing-arguments-today-in-Ashline-case

Ashline guilty on all counts; faces Dec. 21 sentencing

Bryan Ashline was stoic until the bitter end.

Ashline bowed his head and remained still Wednesday as a Steuben County jury found him guilty of all charges in connection with the Father’s Day 2010 murders of his ex-girlfriend and their infant son.

Ashline, 25, of Watervliet in the Albany area, faces a maximum sentence of life without parole when he is sentenced Dec. 21 for killing 3-month-old Xavier Ashline and 25-year-old Trieste Clayton. Ashline was convicted of two counts each of first- and second-degree murder, and single counts of aggravated criminal contempt and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The reaction in the courtroom was tempered when the jury announced its verdict, but outside, Clayton’s mother cried as she spoke about getting justice for her daughter and grandson.

“He got what he deserved … but it won’t bring them back,” Cynthia Watson said. “It’s very hard to sit there and not jump over the wall.”

Watson said the verdict provided “a little” closure. She added that her daughter “was so close to perfect … and he took it away.”

Standing next to his wife, Clayton’s stepfather, Scott Watson, said the family had no choice but to be strong and reserved throughout the legal process.

“We couldn’t do anything stupid … and justice showed,” Scott Watson said. “We’d like to thank them all (our supporters).”

Ashline’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Stahr, said he wasn’t at all surprised his client showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Throughout the trial, Ashline displayed little to no emotion, even on the witness stand.

“(But), of course, he’s not handling it well,” Stahr said.

Ashline killed Clayton and Xavier late June 20, 2010, at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment in Bath. He was visiting his son for Father’s Day.

The case was never a whodunit. Ashline admitted – to police and to the jury – that he killed Clayton and Xavier. Stahr claimed Ashline acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance and was therefore guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

Stahr said Ashline reached a mental breaking point when Clayton refused to allow Xavier to leave with him. He wanted to take the boy to Watervliet for a family party the following weekend. Ashline and Clayton were estranged, though Ashline longed to reconcile, he said.

Stahr said the relationship problems and hardships growing up made Ashline a “time bomb.” He noted Ashline didn’t have an intimate relationship with his father, his mother worked nights, and his closest sister left the household when he was 10 or 11; Ashline was bullied for years after rumors that he was gay began circulating; Ashline “put up walls” to deal with his problems; and Ashline feared he wouldn’t have a significant relationship with his son because Clayton wouldn’t allow it.

“I sincerely believe in the extreme emotional disturbance defense,” Stahr said. “The kettle steamed over.”

In his closing statements Wednesday, Stahr said he wasn’t blaming Clayton, but after the verdict, he said the killings could have been avoided.

“If she had said, ‘Yes, you can have your son for the weekend,’ we wouldn’t be here,” Stahr said. “I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.”

District Attorney John Tunney said Ashline intentionally “executed” Clayton and “sacrificed” Xavier. He noted Ashline admitted he considered killing Clayton and himself before the murders and that Xavier was killed after Clayton.

“He didn’t want his son growing up knowing what he did to his mother,” Tunney said.

What exactly happened in the kitchen when Clayton and Xavier died remains disputed.
According to state police analysis, Clayton was holding Xavier in her arms when Ashline began stabbing her. She died instantly when a thrust to the back of her neck severed her spinal cord.

Xavier fell from his dying mother’s arms, at which point Ashline used a butcher knife to stab him in the chest and abdomen, the state police analysis concluded. Both thrusts cut entirely through Xavier’s body and chipped the floor underneath.

Stahr said his analysis of the evidence suggests Ashline was holding Xavier when Clayton stabbed him in the hand – before Ashline attacked. He said that would explain why Xavier had a puncture on his back – something that wasn’t explained by prosecution witnesses.

Stahr also claims that Xavier’s body was found too far from his mother to have fallen from her arms as she died. He believes Xavier remained on the floor after Ashline dropped him when stabbed by Clayton.

Ashline and Clayton met in June 2008 in the Albany area. They eventually moved in together, but Clayton left Ashline and moved back to Steuben County after Ashline assaulted her in August 2009.

They continued to speak and see each other on occasion, and Xavier was born in March 2010. Ashline didn’t meet his son until several weeks after the child’s birth. He saw his son a handful of times before Xavier was killed.

Stahr said he plans to appeal the convictions.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x1992153416/Ashline-guilty-on-all-counts-faces-Dec-21-sentencing

Ashline gets life without parole

Bryan Ashline will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Ashline, 25, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Father’s Day 2010 murders of his ex-girlfriend and their infant son in Bath. Trieste Clayton, 25 and Xavier Ashline, 3 months, were stabbed to death during a domestic dispute at Clayton’s Mountview Road West apartment.

Shackled and dressed in jail-issued green, Ashline declined to make a statement before he was sentenced. His attorney, Thomas Stahr, said Ashline apologized for the killings on the witness stand and nothing he could have said Wednesday would have resonated with anyone.

Cynthia Watson, Clayton’s mother, called Ashline a selfish “monster.”

“You’ve made me a broken person,” Watson said to Ashline in court Wednesday. “You destroyed our lives forever. You’ve destroyed how I wake up every day, you’ve destroyed our holidays.”

Watson noted that Clayton’s birthday is Dec. 20.

“We celebrated her 27th birthday (Tuesday),” Watson said. “You took away from me my daughter and my grandson, who I adored.

You’ve ruined me and my two girls, who looked up to their sister.”

Watson said that one of her other daughters, after meeting Ashline for the first time, predicted Ashline – who has a criminal history for assaulting women – would hurt Clayton.

“I guess she was right,” Watson said. “I’m glad New York state doesn’t have the death penalty. I hope you suffer for the rest of your life. You’re a monster, and I hope you continue to suffer.”

Judge Joseph Latham described Ashline’s actions as “hellish” and said Ashline turned “their happy home into a slaughterhouse.”

“You chose not to abide by the rules of civilized society,” Latham said.

District Attorney John Tunney said life without parole “was the only appropriate sentence.” He said he wasn’t surprised Ashline declined to apologize Wednesday, saying it was “absolutely consistent” with Ashline’s actions.
Stahr, however, said Ashline is not a cold-blooded killer. He said Ashline killed Clayton and Xavier after the “kettle boiled over.” Stahr added that he agreed with Ashline’s decision not to make a statement.

“He’s had enough of his words twisted to last a lifetime,” Stahr said. “He was pretty much prepared for the worst, and expecting it.”

Ashline was convicted by a jury in November of two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and two other felonies. He will appeal.

Ashline, of suburban Albany, admitted he killed Clayton and Xavier during a domestic dispute late June 20, 2010. He was in town visiting his son for Father’s Day.

The exact circumstances of the incident remain in question, but Ashline said he attacked only after Clayton stabbed him first. According to Ashline’s testimony, he was attempting to leave the apartment with Xavier when Clayton confronted him. He said he wanted to take the child back to his home in Watervliet, but Clayton wouldn’t let him.

“What new mother would let someone take her newborn infant?” Watson said in court Wednesday.

Clayton was stabbed 13 times. One of the blows severed her spinal cord, causing instant death. A state police investigator testified that Clayton was holding Xavier when Ashline attacked.

Xavier was lying on the floor when he was killed. Ashline stabbed the boy multiple times, including once in the chest and once in the abdomen.

Ashline attempted to persuade a jury that he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance and was therefore guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

Ashline testified he was afraid Clayton would not allow him to have a relationship with his son and that Clayton rebuffed his efforts for reconciliation. Also, he testified that he didn’t have an close relationship with his father, his mother worked nights and his closest sister left the household when he was 10 or 11. He also said he was bullied for years after rumors that he was gay began circulating, and he lacked the ability to discuss his emotions.

http://www.the-leader.com/news/x2084006127/Ashline-gets-life-without-parole