Soldier says he stabbed comrade in self-defense during fight

JOINT BASE-LEWIS MCCHORD — A soldier accused of fatally stabbing a comrade through the heart two years go testified that he acted in self-defense during a confrontation between two groups of soldiers.

Pvt. Jeremiah Hill, 24, said on the stand at his court-martial Tuesday that he tried to knock a knife out of Spc. Tevin Geike’s hand, The News-Tribune in Tacoma reported.

Hill told Army jurors that Geike jerked away and slashed his right hand. Bleeding from the wound, Hill said he then stabbed Geike, 20, because the fellow soldier still had a knife and was “still a threat.”

Both soldiers were based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma.

Hill faces life in prison if he’s convicted of murder.

Capt. Pawel Binczyk, the Army prosecutor, described Hill in his opening statement Monday as callous in his remarks to other soldiers, the newspaper earlier reported. Hill’s attorneys said their client stabbed and killed Geike, of Summerville, South Carolina, but said it was not murder.

The slaying occurred when Hill and a group of soldiers confronted Geike and two friends on a highway, authorities say.

Testimony at Hill’s pretrial hearing indicated Geike was walking on Pacific Highway in Lakewood with two friends in the early hours of Oct. 5, 2013, when Hill and four others approached in a car. The two groups reportedly prepared to fight but stopped when they realized they were all soldiers. At that point, Hill is accused of grabbing Geike and stabbing him in the chest.

Two soldiers with Hill that night testified that Hill did not appear to be concerned when he learned he might have killed someone, the newspaper reported. Defense attorneys pointed to conflicting statements the soldiers gave to police and attorneys in the past.

One of them, Pvt. Cedarium Johnson, was convicted last week of trying to obstruct the Army’s investigation and sentenced to up to nine months in confinement. He testified against Hill as part of a plea deal that capped his sentence.

The other, Pvt. Ajoni Runnion-Bareford, said he took the knife Hill used and threw it into the woods. He pleaded guilty in August in Pierce County Superior Court to a charge of rendering criminal assistance.