John Baptie's longtime friend testified Tuesday that Jonathan Bruno threatened to kill Baptie a week before he allegedly carried out the act in a downtown Rutland parking lot.

But the account provided by Christopher Heck was cast in doubt by Bruno's defense attorney, who argued that Heck made up the story for police in response to threats from Baptie's father.

The fourth day of Bruno's second-degree murder trial featured testimony from Heck and former Castleton Police Officer Aron McNeil, who both told jurors about prior threats that Bruno made to John Baptie.

The jury also heard from a number of city police officers and detectives, one of whom produced a 4-inch-long folding knife with a partially serrated blade, which Bruno allegedly used to cut Baptie's throat and left forearm.

Heck, who said he knew Baptie since childhood and was also friends with Bruno, was among the first to take the stand.

A daily heroin user at the time of the killing in November 2007, Heck said Bruno told him in a phone conversation he was going to kill Baptie about a week before the fatal incident behind Walmart at the Rutland Shopping Plaza.

"He said when he saw him, he was going to slice his throat," Heck testified. "He said he told (Baptie) 'I know where you cash your checks every Thursday. I know where your mom works.'"

Baptie was killed on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007, shortly after getting cash and car keys from his mother who worked at the TD Banknorth drive-through on Evelyn Street on the north end of the plaza.

Several witnesses have testified that they saw Bruno and Baptie arguing behind Walmart and that they saw the blow delivered by Bruno that cut through Baptie's carotid artery.

But the defense in the Bruno case hasn't tried to deny that Bruno wielded the knife and delivered the blow. Rather, Bruno's attorney Kerry DeWolfe has argued that her client's perceptions were impaired by crack-cocaine induced mania at the time of the killing — an impairment that led him to believe Baptie and two other people were planning to ambush him behind Walmart.

DeWolfe has said Bruno's actions two years ago were the product of an impulsive, misguided attempt at self-defense.

In a brief hearing before the jury was allowed into the courtroom, DeWolfe said Heck's testimony was suspect for a number of reasons. For starters, she said Heck told police on the day Baptie was killed that he didn't know anything about any problems between Bruno and Baptie. Heck told police about the threat from Bruno a week later when investigators called him back.

DeWolfe, in arguments before the judge, contended that Heck could have made up the Bruno threats after his life was threatened by John Baptie's father, Tom Baptie.

In cross-examination, DeWolfe pressed Heck about threats from Tom Baptie — threats that Heck acknowledged he received a number of times starting on the day John Baptie died.

But Heck said he didn't take the threats seriously and was telling the truth about Bruno's threats.

Heck said he didn't come forward right away because he was on furlough for multiple counts of uttering forged instruments. Heck said he was buying heroin regularly from Bruno at the time of Baptie's death — he said Baptie was also buying heroin from Bruno — and he was worried that telling the truth about Bruno's threats would put him in violation of his furlough.

When DeWolfe pressed him about statements he made in the past about telling police he didn't know anything about Baptie's death, Heck responded angrily.

"No, you're not right," he said. "You're not going to make me say something that's not the truth. The police called me back because they knew I knew more than what I said."

The jury heard about threats made by Bruno toward John Baptie and from Tom Baptie toward Bruno while listening to testimony from McNeil.

McNeil, who is being sued by the Baptie family in a wrongful death lawsuit, said he came to the Baptie home on Oct. 28, 2007, to respond to complaints about harassing and threatening phone calls from Bruno. While there, he heard two recorded messages from Bruno and talked to Bruno on the phone when he called the house.

One of the taped recordings from the home was garbled. The other was an obscenity laced message punctuated by the statement, "You better come to me."

McNeil said he was prepared to charge Bruno criminally if he made any more calls or came to the Bapties' home. But he also told the jury that Tom Baptie said multiple times that he wanted to shoot Bruno and would if he called again.

"I'm not going to put up with this. If he does it again I will hunt him down," McNeil said.

The threats are relevant to DeWolfe's defense of Bruno, which asserts that Bruno's actions on Nov. 1 were in part due to his fear of Tom Baptie, who DeWolfe said Bruno believed was in the area of the plaza.

Retired City Police Officer Linda Elrick said Bruno said repeatedly that he was attacked by a group of people on the night of his arrest. Elrick, who guarded Bruno during his booking at the police station, said Bruno told her that three people jumped him and that Baptie came at him with a lead pipe, striking him twice.

However, another detective in the case said Bruno had no marks or injuries on his body and no lead pipes or other weapons were found in the parking lot.

brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com