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Mar 4, 2008 12:35 pm US/Pacific
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Oak. Woman Recalls Stabbing, Abuse At Murder Trial
OAKLAND (BCN) ―
An Oakland woman testified Tuesday that roofer Earl Stefanson attacked her on four separate occasions in late 2004 and early 2005.
Taking the witness stand in the second day of the trial of Stefanson, 43, who is accused of 19 felony counts, including murder, torture and false imprisonment, 41-year-old Kristen Nielsen said that in October of 2004 he threw a gravity knife into her left leg as she was lying on the bed of her home on Coolidge Street in Oakland.
Nielsen, who lived with and dated Stefanson at the time, said she bled all over the floor and she still has no feeling in her left leg, but Stefanson refused to let her seek medical attention at the time.
Nielsen said the next incident occurred during December of 2004, when Stefanson threw two gallons of milk on the hardwood floor of her home when she didn't greet him after he'd been away for several days.
She said he told her to clean up the milk, then hit her in the jaw and kicked her in the stomach with his steel-toed boots.
Nielsen said that in January 2005 he forcibly used electric shears to cut off parts of her hair during an argument and on her birthday on Feb. 17, 2005, "he reached over and backhanded me on my mouth" as she was lying in her bed.
The most serious charge against Stefanson is that he murdered Leslie Lamb, a 36-year-old woman who died on Aug. 26, 2006.
At Stefanson's preliminary hearing last September, prosecutor Casey Bates said Lamb's blood was found in Stefanson's house, his sperm was found in her mouth and a pathologist's report concluded that she died of "multiple injuries from her head to her toe."
Bates said Lamb suffered injuries on her face, head, lungs and shins.
Bates said Stefanson also assaulted a third woman, another ex-girlfriend.
That woman was scheduled to testify against Stefanson on Wednesday.
Stefanson also has a 1995 conviction for running a methamphetamine laboratory in Butte County but had a revolver at his home in Oakland.
He faces life in prison without parole if he's convicted of all the charges against him.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)