NORTHAMPTON — Brian Camp took the stand in his own defense Friday, the final testimony in his trial on a charge of manslaughter in the death of Johnathan Letendre in December 2022.

The trial, in Hampshire Superior Court, had previously detailed how Camp, 24, awoke shortly after midnight to see Letendre, who once had a relationship with Camp’s girlfriend Brooke Janik, inside the Chesterfield home where he and Janik were sleeping after Janik let out a scream.

Letendre began attacking Camp, who had been sleeping naked, and a struggle ensued between the two men, a struggle that eventually made its way downstairs and involved fighting for control over multiple guns before Camp eventually shot Letendre with a Sig Sauer pistol.

Camp shot Letendre a second time, eight minutes after the first shot, hitting him in the head and killing him, leading to the manslaughter charge.

Under questioning Friday by his attorney, Thomas Kokonowski, Camp testified about what had happened that night. He also faced cross-examination from First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, who put forward a series of questions challenging Camp’s actions that night and his version of events.

Camp described the initial attack by Letendre and how he was able to get behind his attacker and begin to choke him, only to have Letendre reach behind him and begin to feel around for his eyeballs. He said he also heard Letendre say that he was going to kill him. Janik had also struck Letendre with a glass object during this fight, which Gagne revealed Friday to have been a glass bong.

After letting go of Letendre, Camp made his way downstairs, where he grabbed his muzzleloader, a type of hunting rifle, and pointed it at Letendre and told him to get out of the house.

But Letendre instead grabbed the muzzeloader, wrestled it out of Camp’s hands and pulled the trigger. However, the gun did not fire because he had not cocked the hammer first. Camp then grabbed the gun back and removed the primer, the chemical component that allows the gun to fire.

The men continued to fight each other, with Camp describing it as a “wrestling match,” beginning on the floor then shifting over to the downstairs couch. Camp said he then went to a nearby closet and pulled out a shotgun, again pointing it at Letendre to get him to leave, but Letendre again grabbed the gun, which broke in two.

During cross-examination, Gagne asked Camp if he knew there was a shotgun in the closet, with Camp saying he did not. When asked why he went to the closet, Camp said he knew there were multiple guns inside the closet, with only some of them being his.

From there, the fight made its way into the kitchen, with Letendre using the barrel of the shotgun as a makeshift club to attack Camp. Camp managed to grab a hold of a Sig Sauer pistol that was on top of one of the kitchen cabinets and fired the first shot into Letendre, into his lower rib cage, causing Letendre to fall to the ground. Camp said that Letendre was still moving on the floor, saying multiple times, “I need an attorney,” and then saying multiple times, “I’m going to kill you.”

Gagne noted during cross-examination that in addition to the Sig Sauer pistol, there was also a loaded revolver on the kitchen counter, placed alongside a pair of keys as if dumped out from emptying one’s pockets. He also noted that when Camp left the kitchen, the revolver was still on the counter and the shotgun barrel was still beside Letendre on the ground, and that Camp also left the house with the couple’s children still upstairs.

“When you left him in the kitchen, moaning and squirming on the ground with a gunshot wound, you felt as though you had neutralized the threat at that point?” Gagne asked, with Camp responding affirmatively.

Following that, Camp went outside, where Janik had been on the phone with a 911 operator. He then went back in the house to put on pants, having been naked through the entire encounter with Letendre, and also to check on his and Janik’s two children, who had been in their bedroom the entire time. He called his boss, who advised him to take a photo of Letendre for evidence, which Camp did before returning outside to be with Janik.

Camp also testified that during this time Janik told him the 911 operator was asking about the status of Letendre, and she told him to go back inside and check on him, saying “they need to know.” Camp said he went inside and saw Letendre begin to get back up, which is when he shot Letendre the second time.

Gagne asked Camp if he had thought of doing anything else to try to restrain Letendre, such as running toward him and kicking him in the head or driving his knee into his back. Camp said he did not.

Once police arrived, Camp was placed into an ambulance, but he said they did not immediately leave for the hospital, at Camp’s own request.

“I did not want to go the hospital at that time,” Camp said. “I wanted to see Brooke and my children.”

Following his hospital stint, where he was treated for a fractured hand, Camp was taken to the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Northampton to be questioned. During the interview, Camp never mentioned the second, fatal shot, saying he had shot Letendre “once or twice” but a second shot would have been right after the first.

“I was having a hard time processing what just happened,” Camp said of his mental state at that time, admitting some of his statements to police were not accurate. “My mental state was blurry, and jumbled up at best.”

Gagne said that although he made no mention the second shot, Camp had remembered many other events from that night in between the two shots, such as going upstairs to get dressed, calling his boss and taking a picture of Letendre.

“[You were] correct for all these other details in that eight-minute-and-37-second span, you remember, and when they asked you about the second shot, oh, suddenly, jumbling, blurry memory?” Gagne asked. Camp responded, “not suddenly, but yes,” later adding “it’s what I believed at the time.”

With the defense and prosecution now having rested in the case, closing arguments by both sides will begin on Monday, before the jury begins deliberations.

A manslaughter conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.