Video of an interview with the 44-year-old Casper man charged with the death of a 28-year-old man on March 5 at a motel in Casper shows him telling police he wanted his opponent to “chill” so he could stop fighting.
But victim Chance Arias never did, James Mavigliano told police in a videotaped interview played in Natrona Country District Court on Tuesday during Mavigliano’s second-degree murder trial.
He said Arias just kept fighting and swearing at him.
“Stop man. If I can see it in your eyes that you are going to chill, I will let you go,” Mavigliano told detectives on the tape. “He didn’t want to stop.”
Mavigliano is on trial for second-degree murder in the killing of Arias on March 5 at the Topper Motel in the 700 block of East A Street in Casper.
Casper Police Detective Jonathan Schlager, one of the detectives shown on the video interviewing Mavigliano, testified that the interview lasted two hours and Mavigliano never mentioned anything about wanting to kill the victim.
The video showed Mavigliano alternating between seeming calm and being near tears as he took responsibility for what occurred in Room 20 of the motel.
The interview had taken place at the Casper Police Department following his arrest at a busstop not far from the crime scene.
Mavigliano sat in court in a black suit and stared toward the video on the small computer screen in front of him at the defense table.
Interview Video
In the video, Mavigliano told police he went to the motel with Amber Cook, a woman he described as a friend. She had texted him about being “beat up,” and they had met in a parking lot and walked to the motel. Mavigliano assumed Cook had been in a fight with her girlfriends.
But she took him to the motel room, which he found it messy, with alcohol bottles on the floor. Arias was there. Cook had told Mavigliano that Arias was “cool” and that she had been drinking with him. Mavigliano told police that Cook apparently had been staying with Arias for a couple of days, and it seemed to him that Arias was probably drunk.
At the motel room, Mavigliano said he smoked some meth, and he spent 35 to 40 minutes in the room.
Mavigliano told police on the video that Cook wanted to leave with him, but he told her she could not go with him.
Mavigliano said Arias began to get upset with him about “disrespecting” his room and being loud. As he got up to leave, Arias met him at the end of the bed in the room.
“I got up to go and he got in my face,” Mavigliano told police. He said he saw Arias get ready to hit him because Arias’ right shoulder moved as if to launch his fist. Mavigliano said he moved into Arias and hit him first with his right hand in the face. He said he followed it with several other blows.
“I grew up boxing,” he said. “I know how to fight real good.”
Mavigliano said Arias grabbed him, and they fell on the bed, and he somehow obtained a lamp in his hand and hit Arias in the head with it. He then used the cord that was wrapped around both of their hands and put it around Arias neck.
“I said, ‘Chill man’ and he kept trying to fight,” Mavigliano said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, stop.’”
Victim ‘Strong’
Mavigliano said Cook also was telling Arias to stop, warning him that Mavigliano was going to kill him.
Mavigliano told detectives that he didn’t think Arias could “whip me” but that the victim was “strong.”
Mavigiliano also told police he believed because of Arias’ unwillingness to stop that if he let up, Arias might have a knife hidden somewhere and use it against him. The suspect also told police that the events of the fight became a blur.
A detective asked Mavigliano if Arias kept fighting because he thought Mavigliano was going to kill him.
“No,” Mavigliano said. “I’m totally telling the dude to stop fighting me.”
Mavigliano told police he wrapped the cord around Arias’ neck and knew he was dead “when I heard that air come out of the tire ... ssssssssss.”
After he pulled Arias’ body off the bed onto the floor, Cook kicked Arias in the head, Mavigliano told police.
Mavigliano told police in the video that he did not try and do first-aid on Arias because he checked his pulse and “knew he wasn’t coming back.”
Cook took the stand in the afternoon and said she did not remember much about the day. She did remember being in the motel room with Mavigliano and that she had been drinking heavily. Cook testified Arias also was drinking that day.
Witness Said She ‘Blacked Out’
Cook told the jury that she “blacked out” and could not remember much about the fight.
Court records show that after the events in the motel room, Cook allegedly told Mavigliano that Arias had been physically and sexually assaulting her over the nights she had stayed with him.
In court Tuesday, she characterized Arias as a “friend.”
A separate video showed Cook and Mavigliano leaving the motel room with a blue duffle bag with clothes in it for Cook, who had been dressed in black shorts. Mavigliano told police that Cook initially tried to take the jeans off of Arias to wear because other jeans were dirty on the floor.
The trial is expected to continue for much of the week. The district attorney’s office has listed 23 witnesses as part of the case with more than 10 left to testify.
Second-degree murder carries a potential penalty of 20 years to life in prison.
Mavigliano is also charged with possession of a controlled substance - methamphetamine. The possession charge is a misdemeanor and carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of not more than $1,000.
Mavigliano initially confessed to killing someone during a probation hearing on March 8 in Casper Circuit Court following his arrest on March 5.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
