Graham: ‘I don’t know how it happened’

CATSKILL — Carlos Graham testified in his murder trial Wednesday that he shot his former neighbor and romantic rival Brandon Dayne Foster twice, but that it was not intentional.

Graham, 31, of Catskill, was charged Feb. 15, 2018, with second-degree murder, a class A-I felony. He pleaded not guilty.

Graham took the witness stand in Greene County Court for the defense to tell his side of story of what happened the night Foster died.

“Everything just happened so fast,” he said, recalling the events leading up to Foster’s death.

The prosecution contends Graham shot Foster out of jealousy. Sade Knox, Foster’s former girlfriend, was allegedly having an affair with Graham, who prosecutors say also stole items from Foster’s house at 126 Tool House Road after Foster’s death. Foster and Knox had been broken up in November 2016, and Knox moved from 126 Tool House Road next door to 124 Tool House Road.

With Knox’s help, Graham buried Foster in 9 inches of concrete in a crawl space below a large aquarium in Knox’s bedroom at 124 Tool House Road, prosecutors allege.

Graham told the eight-man, six-woman jury Wednesday that Foster came to Knox’s house between the night of Jan. 26 and the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2017, and kicked down the back door to get in to Knox’s house.

Foster started yelling and beating Knox, Graham said. Meanwhile, Graham and his friend, Ashton Adams, hid in Knox’s bedroom closet. No one called 911.

Graham said he did not call 911 because he was worried Foster would hear him on the phone. It would also take police between 10 and 15 minutes to arrive to the house once the call was made, Graham said.

Eventually, Foster went into the bedroom and pointed a shotgun at Graham, he said.

Graham recalled he had a .357 Ruger magnum revolver in his hand, adding it fired, but he did not know how.

After he fired the magnum, Foster did not react, Graham said. Foster also didn’t react when Graham fired the shotgun in his direction, he said.

As Graham jumped from the closet, he said he also fired a 10-gauge sawed-off shotgun in his other hand. The pellets in the gun also hit Foster, he said.

“It is what my body did,” Graham said. “I didn’t want to harm him. My only intention was not get harmed.”

Graham recalled he pistol-whipped Foster in the head. Foster then went down to the floor, Graham said.

Saying he had seen CSI and similar crime TV shows, Graham knew not to pour bleach on the bloodstained floor because traces of blood could be recovered. Instead, he ripped up the carpet, the padding underneath and cut out the section of wood floor underneath, which also had blood on it.

He burned those materials in the backyard of 124 Tool House Road, including Foster’s pants and shoes.

“I wanted everything to do with that crime scene gone,” Graham said.

Graham sent Adams to Walmart to buy garbage bags and black duct tape at 4:20 a.m. Jan. 27, 2017.

Graham initially buried Foster in the front yard of Knox’s home on Tool House Road before crafting a plan to bury him in the crawl space below the home, he said, adding he did not use an excavator to dig up or bury Foster.

Graham bought cement, cut the hole in Knox’s bedroom floor and buried Foster by himself, he recalled Wednesday.

Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione questioned if Foster had a gun at all.

Graham replied he sold Foster’s gun, a 12-gauge shotgun, for some marijuana.

Graham gave Hallback’s .357 magnum to his friend, Ashton Adams. Adams wanted the gun because he was afraid of Foster, Graham said.

“It’s a pretty complex,” he added. “If I was going to make up a story, wouldn’t it be something simple?”

The trial is expected to continue Thursday.

At an indictment hearing in May, Graham was additionally charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony; third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree grand larceny, both class D felonies; concealment of a corpse and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, both class E felonies.

Foster, an aspiring rapper, was the son of renowned jazz drummer Al Foster.

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