Testimony winds up in Fargo murder-for-hire trial

The Oklahoma City handyman accused in the beating death of a Fargo dentist testified in his own defense Wednesday and forcefully denied telling a former client that if he were ever to kill the dentist, he would use a hammer.

Michael Nakvinda is accused in North Dakota state court of beating Philip Gattuso to death with a hammer in October 2009. Authorities allege Gattuso's former father-in-law, Gene Kirkpatrick, paid Nakvinda to kill Gattuso. Kirkpatrick says he never approved the plan, and Nakvinda claims he was framed.

Testimony in the case wrapped up Wednesday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday morning, and Judge Frank Racek told jurors they will likely start deliberating in the afternoon.

Nakvinda, who also testified briefly on Tuesday, rarely answered questions without drifting off the subject. One of his most direct answers came when he denied the alleged conversation with former client Deborah Baker.

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"That conversation never took place. I don't cuss in front of my customers," Nakvinda said.

Later, under questioning from prosecutor Ryan Younggren, Nakvinda admitted that investigators taped a phone call Nakvinda made from jail to his mother, Edith Wade. Nakvinda allegedly told Wade that Kirkpatrick's testimony might not be as bad as he originally feared, and "all I've got to worry about" is Baker.

Kirkpatrick told police on the day he was first interrogated that he and Nakvinda talked about how much it would take to kill Gattuso and said he agreed to pay Nakvinda $3,000 for expenses. In testimony earlier this week, Kirkpatrick said the payment was for building projects.

Nakvinda testified Wednesday that Kirkpatrick never told him he wished Gattuso was dead and never arranged a hit.

"Nah, I'd remember that," Nakvinda said. Nakvinda, whose trial began last week, has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including intentional homicide. Kirkpatrick is facing a murder conspiracy charge and is scheduled to go on trial in March.

Investigators have not found any DNA or fingerprint evidence linking Nakvinda to the crime scene and no witnesses can place him in Fargo on the day Gattuso was killed. Nakvinda was identified that day at a rest stop near the South Dakota-North Dakota border, where he was seen hauling a car behind a pickup. Police later determined it was a Porsche stolen from Gattuso's town home.

Nakvinda testified Wednesday he went to North Dakota to pick up a Porsche as a favor for Kirkpatrick, but was never in Fargo. He said he spent the night before Gattuso's death at a house in Wahpeton, about 50 miles south of Fargo. He couldn't give a detailed description of the man living at the house, other than to point to a juror and compare the color of her hair to that of the man in Wahpeton.

The man came to wake him up in the morning to say the Porsche arrived in the middle of the night.

"You was so tired we went ahead and loaded the car," Nakvinda quoted the man as saying.

Nakvinda said he was surprised when police showed up at his mother's home where he was living in Oklahoma City to arrest him. "I said, 'What do you want with me? I have never been to Fargo, North Dakota,"' he said.

"I was paid to transport the car and that's all I did," Nakvinda told jurors. "My bad thing is trusting a friend, to rely on him to do the right thing, to not involve me in such a matter."

Prosecutors allege Kirkpatrick wanted Gattuso killed because he didn't want Gattuso raising his granddaughter, Kennedy. Valerie Gattuso, Philip's wife and Kirkpatrick's daughter, died in March 2009 after an extended illness. Kirkpatrick also said he was unhappy with the way Philip handled his daughter's final days.

Kirkpatrick said earlier that Nakvinda knew he didn't like his son-in-law and said it was Nakvinda who suggested killing Gattuso. Nakvinda testified Wednesday that he didn't pay attention to Kirkpatrick's personal matters.

"I just didn't get too far into detail. I call it sissy talk," Nakvinda said.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)