HAMILTON — Jimmy D. Sudberry told a jury Friday that he feared for his life when he pulled a pair of scissors out of his pocket in hopes of driving away his uncle, James L. Sudberry.

        He said the elder Sudberry directed homosexual epithets at him and began pushing him and punching him in an alley outside the house they had been sharing for about a week.

        Mr. Sudberry told a jury Friday that as he tried to get away, his uncle pulled his dreadlocks, kicked him and threatened to kill him. He said he pulled out his scissors and poked at his uncle.

        “I wasn't trying to kill him,” he said. “He just kept coming at me. He was throwing his body into the scissors.”

        Mr. Sudberry, 27, of Hamilton, is charged with murder in the Jan. 25, 1999 death of his 37-year-old uncle.

        Police found the elder Sudberry's body covered with an orange carpet in a garage in an alley off Maple Avenue.

        The prosecution says Jimmy D. Sudberry attacked his uncle from behind.

        James L. Sudberry was stabbed twice in the back, once in the back of his left leg, once in the left side and once in the right shoulder. He suffered a fractured skull when struck with a blunt object in the back of the head.

        He bled to death, but would have died eventually from the skull fracture, according to Dr. Richard Burkhardt, Butler County coroner.

        Jimmy D. Sudberry said his uncle walked toward the house after being stabbed. He said when he returned to the house, his uncle was lying on the ground.

        “He grabbed at me,” Mr. Sudberry said. “That's when I hit him with the shovel. After that, I knew I had killed him.”

        He said he didn't call the police because he didn't think the police would believe he had acted in self-defense.

        After trying to hide the body, Mr. Sudberry fled to Dayton. Dayton police arrested him a week later.

        He cried as he told the jury about his feelings as he sat in the house after killing his uncle.

        “I never thought I would have anything to do with killing anybody,” Mr. Sudberry said. “I didn't mean to kill him.”

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