By DEBRA HAIGHT

Niles Daily Star contributor

NILES – A Niles man will have to wait a few weeks to see if he will stand trial for the July death of his girlfriend as his attorney has mounted an assisted suicide defense. James Parker Huffman is accused of strangling Angela Cluver July 21 at their home on South 14th Street in Niles.

Huffman, 52, walked into the Niles Law Enforcement Complex July 24 and told police that he had strangled his girlfriend, Angela Cluver, in a failed double suicide pact. Police then went to the home and discovered Cluver’s body, which was in a state of decomposition.

It was at the close of testimony in Huffman’s preliminary hearing Tuesday that defense attorney Scott Sanford raised the possibility of mounting an assisted suicide defense. Sanford claimed that Huffman is guilty of violating the Michigan assisted suicide law and not murder.

Sanford pointed to testimony and evidence that Cluver had no defensive wounds on her body and that there was no evidence of a violent struggle. He said if Huffman is guilty of anything, it would be of assisting Cluver to commit suicide. That violation is a five-year felony rather than life in prison without parole, which is the penalty for first-degree murder.

Berrien County Trial Judge Scott Schofield said he needed more information about adding an assisted suicide violation count. He also questioned whether he can add a count as the judge and the validity of Sanford’s objection to Assistant Prosecutor Cortney O’Malley adding a felony murder count as an alternate theory to first-degree murder.

He asked Sanford and O’Malley to have briefs on all three issues to him by the end of the day Nov. 6. Huffman’s preliminary hearing is set to resume at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 9 O’Malley is asking for Huffman to be bound over for trial on first-degree premeditated murder or alternately on felony murder.

Tuesday’s hearing featured testimony that provided more details about the case from Niles police dispatcher Nikki Metz, Niles Police Capt. Kevin Kosten and Detective Chad Mitchell, along with Dr. Joseph Prahlow, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Cluver’s body in Kalamazoo July 25.

Metz said she first thought that a warrant was out on Huffman and he was turning himself in. When it turned out he was there to say he had strangled his girlfriend, she turned him over to detectives.

Kosten said he was one of the first officers at the home and was the person to discover Cluver’s body in the laundry room. Cluver’s eyes were taped shut, there was tape gagging her mouth and her arms and legs were also taped together—evidence that O’Malley said showed it was homicide and not suicide.

Kosten later went through the home taking photos and collecting evidence. He said he found handwritten notes on the kitchen table saying “I killed Angela,” “sorry dude,” “call 911” and “get rid of notes.”

Mitchell said he interviewed Huffman for nearly two hours the morning of July 24. Huffman gave him a number of different reasons for the “attempted double suicide” including that Cluver had medical issues, there was family drama going on and they had financial issues.

“It came to a head that Friday,” Mitchell said. “He said they sat down at the kitchen table and discussed their plan to commit suicide, that he would strangle her and then cut himself. He said they both drank some beer and then they went into the bedroom where she laid on her back, and he asked her if she was ready, and she nodded yes.

“He leaned over and put his hands around her neck.” “He said it seemed like a long time, maybe five minutes, and he had his eyes closed the whole time. He then shook her by the neck and heard a popping noise. He laid down next to her but couldn’t kill himself.”

Mitchell said Huffman told him that he moved Cluver’s body when he wanted to go to bed that night. Huffman said he taped her arms and legs to make it easier to move her body to the laundry room.

Huffman said he attempted to kill himself several times over the weekend by cutting himself, suffocating himself by stuffing socks in his mouth and trying to electrocute himself. Mitchell said an examination of Huffman’s body on July 24 found no evidence of cuts, burn marks or any other injury.

Prahlow said he ruled that Cluver died from a violent homicide due to strangulation after the autopsy. Although the body was badly decomposed, he found evidence of abrasions and scratches on her neck and contusions and broken bones in her neck. She had alcohol, a prescription drug and nicotine from tobacco in her system.