Manley describes teacher’s death as accidental

Bill Gang

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 9:11 a.m.

In occasional tearful testimony, Charles Manley termed the shooting death of his girlfriend to be "the accident" that occurred when they tumbled to the ground while grappling over a pistol.

Manley returned to the witness stand today as his trial on murder charges wound to a close. Deliberations were expected to begin late today.

During his four hours on the witness stand Wednesday, the ex-convict described a loving relationship with elementary school teacher Roxanne Logan, revealing that they were attempting to have a baby.

He disputed the testimony from her friends that she was trying to force him to move from her home because she was angry that he was unemployed and draining her bank accounts.

"We never had a serious argument about anything," Manley told the jury in District Judge Sally Loehrer's courtroom.

But he said that drinking had been a problem for both of them and on March 11, 1995, "she was drunk, wobbly, and depressed" after they each lost a couple of hundred dollars gambling at Sam's Town.

Manley said he drove home and her friends brought her home several hours later. Those friends testified earlier in the trial that Logan was concerned about Manley because she had told him to leave and he had refused.

Manley conceded that he had a pistol in his hand when Logan arrived at her house, but said it was only because he was concerned that the person coming into the house was a burglar.

As he fought tears, Manley said that Logan eventually picked up the gun and he tried to take it away from her, as he said he had done on other occasions when she had been drinking.

"Everything happened so fast," he testified. "I grabbed her wrist ... and we tripped over something and fell with her underneath me. The gun went off when we hit the ground.

"I didn't kill anybody," he said. "I haven't done anything wrong. This was an accident."

Deputy District Attorney Dan Seaton said that is the question for the jury, who could convict Manley of murder or voluntary or involuntary manslaughter or acquit him.

Logan died of a single gunshot wound to the head at point blank range.

Seaton chastised Manley for fleeing Las Vegas after Logan's death without calling 911 for assistance or notifying police that his girlfriend's body was in the house and needed to be taken to a funeral home.

Manley said he had felt for a pulse and knew she was dead but explained that "I didn't know what I was doing at the time" because he was drunk and stayed that way for a couple of days while traveling to Southern California.

He surrendered a few days later and spent 14 months in the Clark County Detention Center awaiting trial until his mother posted bail for him. He jumped bail in January.

Seaton and Manley exchanged barbs as the prosecutor questioned him about his decision to jump bail and travel to the East Coast.

Manley said he had gotten tired of Seaton's attempts to have his bail revoked and decided just to leave Nevada until his July trial date rather than spend another seven months behind bars.

He told the jury that it always was his intent to come back and face the charges that could result in the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder.

After his case appeared on the television show "America's Most Wanted," Manley was tracked to a New Jersey motel where law enforcement officers apprehended him as he reached for a .45-caliber pistol.