LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- Tiffany James’ trial continued in court with day two of testimony. The jury heard from James’ sisters, who were only feet away from when James stabbed 14-year-old Madison Branch last summer.
The stabbing happened at a Speedway Gas Station in the Portland neighborhood in June of 2017. Tiffany James said she was defending herself during a fight with Madison Branch when she stabbed Branch, causing her to bleed out internally.
James’ younger sister said Madison and a friend were bullying her and started the fight.
"Me and Tiffany was walking to the store and Madison and Charlotte followed us. And they kept walking around speedway until we came out and then they wouldn't stop, they just kept bothering us," James’ sister told the jury.
Much of the trial has relied on the visuals from a cell-phone video taken by a witness at the scene. The video shows the fight starting with two teenage girls. Other girls and the defendant’s mother are standing nearby. There have been questions of whether the defendant’s mother encouraged her daughters to get involved in the fight.
Debra James, the defendant’s mother, denies that.
Less than a minute after the fight starts, Tiffany James and Madison Branch are fighting separately off to the side. James’ sisters said they did not see the stabbing happen but looked over after and saw this.
Megan James said, "Tiffany (was) being beat in the head and then Madison saying she stabbed me."
The stab wound was less than an inch wide, according to the medical examiner, who testified in court. But she said it was “lethal" and that the only way Branch would have survived the injury is if it happened in the hospital operating room.
James maintains she stabbed Branch out of self-defense and her family seconds her story. But their story is different from what Branch’s family told the jury yesterday.
The judge reminded the jury at the end of the day that it is up to them to find the truth.
►Contact reporter Shay McAlister at smcalister@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Shay) and Facebook.
