MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — UPDATE: A jury found Derrick Higdon not guilty of multiple charges and convicted him of one after an incident involving his ex-wife in 2017.
Higdon was found not guilty of attempted murder, cruelty to animals, and first-degree arson. He was convicted of one count of breaking and entering with intent to terrorize or injure.
Earlier coverage
A Mount Holly man is on trial for allegedly trying to kill his ex-wife back in 2017.
It took seven years to get the case to trial partly because the suspect, Derrick Higdon, went through multiple attorneys before deciding to represent himself. Higdon isn’t a lawyer and it showed at times in court, Channel 9′s Ken Lemon reported.
The Mount Holly Police Department responded to a home on Farm Springs Drive on July 23, 2017, after reports of a domestic disturbance. Officers got to the scene and the home was on fire.
Suspect takes the stand
Higdon said in court Thursday he has regrets but he never tried to kill his ex-wife. He told jurors the only thing he is guilty of is caring for his ex-wife too much, even after he remarried.
“I was still in love with Misty Oakes,” he said.
He said in 2017, the two had an argument. He told jurors she was upset with him and he couldn’t get over that.
“There’s a hole in my heart,” he said.
Higdon said he went back to her home knowing he shouldn’t be there alone.
“I regret making one of the worst decisions of my life,” Higdon said.
She testified he shattered a glass door while she hid and called for help.
“I did not try to kill the woman that I was in love with,” Higdon said.
But prosecutors said there is video of him at the home, he had cuts on his hand consistent with the broken glass, and some of that glass was in his pocket. His ex-wife was a star witness for prosecutors, talking about abuse she suffered from Higdon days before the fire.
Higdon played a recorded conversation between them. You can hear her yelling at him, a contrast from how she appeared on the stand -- when she was in tears.
Prosecutors will have a chance to question Higdon. Objecting will be difficult when he is both a witness and his own defense attorney.
Testimony case wrap up as early as Friday.
Woman gives tearful testimony
A woman took the stand in court on April 24 to answer questions directly from her ex-husband, the man who is accused of trying to kill her in 2017.
Misty Oakes cried in court as she talked about escaping the fire. Oakes said she watched Higdon break into her house and was scared for her life.
“Constantly looking over my shoulder, never know where he is, if he’s going to be there,” Oakes said.
The couple had dissolved their marriage. However, Higdon got angry when he took her cellphone and saw that she was communicating with other men.
“He pushed me down the stairs,” she said in court.
Higdon beat her every time he found a message on her phone, Oakes said.
“Face to face with me and he told me that he would hurt everyone I loved before he hurt me,” Oakes said. “And that scared me the most.”
Oakes said weeks later, she saw him peeking through the back door of her Mount Holly home. She called 911.
“Where are you at right now ma’am?” the dispatcher said.
“I’m hiding in my laundry room,” the caller said.
Jurors heard her breathless on the call.
Oakes cried in court when she heard the 911 call.
“He broke the glass,” Oakes said in the 911 call.
“He broke the glass?” the dispatcher said.
“Tell them to step it up. He broke the glass,” Oakes told the 911 dispatcher. “He broke the glass.”
Higdon was driving out of the community when police drove in and arrested him, prosecutors said.
“You blocked me on Facebook?” Higdon asked Oakes during the cross-examination in court Wednesday.
Higdon objected often during direct testimony and often used the wrong legal terms. The judge overruled almost every time.
Higdon tried to refute the victim’s accounts. However, the prosecution said they have security camera video of Higdon at his ex-wife’s house on the night of the fire.
Oakes asked neighbors to move their cameras so they record her home in case Higdon tried something.
Higdon was charged with first-degree arson, felony breaking and entering, attempted first-degree murder, and animal cruelty.
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