Fiegehen testifies he's no murderer

MINDEN -- Accused murderer Christopher Fiegehen says he didn't kill anyone.

What he did do, the 24-year-old Carson City man said on the witness stand Friday, was go to Alane Dockstader's parents' home to meet her for a snowboarding trip.

Fiegehen is on trial for the murder Feb. 10, 2002, of Al Chorkey and attempted murder of Lorelle Chorkey, Dockstader's parents, in their Douglas County home. Testimony in the case concluded Friday, and jurors will return at 10:30 a.m. Monday to prepare for deliberations.

Fiegehen testified he had snowboarding gear in his Ford Mustang and, at Dockstader's persistence, went to the house to pick her up -- despite a restraining order she had obtained against Fiegehen, her former boyfriend.

"I didn't feel sure about it at all because of the restraining order," he said of their conversation the night before, when they met at the Minden AM/PM. According to Fiegehen, she persisted and told him it would be OK for him to be at the house.

The morning of Feb. 10, Fiegehen said, he parked his car outside the Chorkeys' home and went to the back door where he usually entered the house. It was locked, so he went around front and noticed that door was open. Going inside, he heard noises and found Lorelle Chorkey injured in the kitchen, he said.

"I was freaking out," Fiegehen said. "I didn't know what was going on."

Fiegehen said he found Al Chorkey on the back porch and flipped him over with the intent of administering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

He said his conversation with Lorelle was brief and that she seemed to indicate help was on the way.

"Lorelle told me to make sure Alane was out of the house and to get out of there," he said.

Unable to find Dockstader, he departed, leaving his snowboarding cap behind. He tried calling Dockstader to find out what happened. No one answered, he said.

He stopped by a neighbor's home to borrow her husband's truck.

"'Why, why, why? That's all that was going through my head," he said about his drive. "I started going to Truckee. I was just kind of going play by play."

During cross-examination, Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Mark Jackson asked Fiegehen if it was a "horrible coincidence" that Fiegehen arrived at the house in the minutes between Lorelle Chorkey's call to 911 and the arrival of deputies.

"I wasn't there very long at all," Fiegehen said.

He said he left the area because he figured in time the truth would come out.

Fiegehen also described his relationship with Dockstader. He said they had broken up about four times, the last being before Christmas 2001.

"I loved her, but it was more as a friend," he said, adding that Dockstader "took (breaking up) real hard."

He said he also had a good relationship with Lorelle Chorkey.

"I never once had a problem with her (Lorelle)," he said. "She did a lot of nice things for me."

When Dockstader received a restraining order against him, Fiegehen said, he was surprised.

He said Lorelle Chorkey called him at work and wanted to hear what was going on. He told her he had to hang up because he didn't want to get in trouble for violating the restraining order.

"It sounded like, in her voice, that she wanted to hear what I wanted to say," Fiegehen said.

He said Dockstader received the restraining order against him because she thought he threw a brick through her car.

"I personally fixed your car. Why would I do this to your car?" Fiegehen said he asked Dockstader during a phone conversation.

Fiegehen's testimony followed Dr. Erin Bigler, a professor of psychology and neuropsychology at Brigham Young University, who described the effect of gunshot injuries on the brain.

Lorelle Chorkey, who was shot in the side of the head in the attack, identified Fiegehen as the man who assaulted her and killed her husband.

Bigler read parts of the 911 call made by Lorelle Chorkey. "Somebody broke in the back door," Bigler read. "My husband is still scuffling with him. Hurry."

Defense attorney Richard Young asked Bigler whether he thought Lorelle Chorkey could be making cognitive decisions at the time, particularly because Chorkey testified she didn't name Fiegehen during the 911 call because he was still in the house.

"If you did not listen to the (911) tape, how are you able to testify to what she was thinking?" Jackson asked.

"I'm only able to talk about the nature of the brain," Bigler replied.