Jurors began deciding Wednesday whether a woman accused of killing her father is guilty of second-degree murder almost a year to the date that John “Clint” Cushman was stabbed in his Loveland home.

In closing arguments in 8th Judicial District Court at the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins on Wednesday, the defense and prosecution disagreed about whether Heather Cushman acted in self-defense on Sept. 9, 2024.

Cushman, 33, was arrested the night that John “Clint” Cushman, 60, was stabbed in his home in the 800 block of East Sixth Street.

In an interview with detectives from the night of the incident that was submitted into evidence, Heather Cushman said she was confronting her dad about alleged abuse and that the conversation escalated into a physical altercation with a knife.

She told detectives that her father grabbed the knife in the kitchen first and that she maneuvered to get the knife from him, then she followed him into his bedroom where she continued to stab him.

“I just felt like a f—-ing animal at that point. … I’m pretty sure I bit him too when we were tussling,” Heather Cushman said in the interview with detectives.

During closings, Heather Cushman’s defense lawyer, Matt Mulch, said that she was acting in self-defense in stabbing her father. He added that there were other weapons in the house that Clint Cushman could have grabbed to hurt Heather Cushman.

“Of course what happened here was terrible, but we don’t require people to retreat in these situations, especially when there’s a knife pointing,” Mulch said. “She’s allowed to defend herself and that’s exactly what she did in this case.”

Mulch added that Clint Cushman was a “violent and dangerous man” and referenced a video clip submitted into evidence of Crystal Cushman, Heather Cushman’s sister, in which she said, “I miss stories about him beating people up.”

He closed his allotted time by reminding the jury that the prosecution has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“They have failed to disprove self-defense and that’s not because of some technical issues or evidence that wasn’t presented … it’s because she is not guilty,” Mulch said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Hardouin disagreed with Mulch and said that Heather Cushman was not acting in self-defense because she pursued Clint Cushman.

He also said that Heather Cushman’s injuries were not consistent with taking the knife from her father. He referenced an interview with detectives that was submitted into evidence in which Heather Cushman was asked to recreate the knife maneuver; she reached for the knife’s blade in that recreation, he said. Then Hardouin provided the jury with photos, also submitted into evidence, that showed injuries to Heather Cushman’s pinky finger but not to her palms.

“She demanded an apology that was worth killing for and she didn’t get it,” Hardouin said. “She grabbed the knife and pursued her dad with an animalistic rage.”

He added that he didn’t feel the need to convince the jury that what the defendant did was wrong because Heather Cushman had already done that and noted the multiple times she apologized or said she had messed up, including in a text message to a friend from the night of the incident that said, “I f—ed up really bad … I’m so sorry.”

Over the course of the trial, the jury heard each attorney question experts, law enforcement and family members. At times, Heather Cushman was seen crying at the defense bench.

The case went to the jury on Wednesday afternoon.

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