A 69-year-old Butler man said Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court that he stabbed another man in self-defense on South Main Street in Butler one year ago.

Paul Leslie Lenzi testified in his defense against felony charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault that Butler City police filed against him after he stabbed Ryan Troup, 40, of Butler, multiple times on Sept. 20, 2021.

Lenzi testified after a police officer and two witnesses testified in the morning session. A jury of five women and seven men began deliberating in the afternoon and will return Wednesday morning to continue deliberating.

Before the jury was excused late Tuesday afternoon, they told Judge Timothy McCune that they reached a deadlock on the attempted homicide charge. McCune instructed the panel to begin Wednesday by deliberating the aggravated assault charge and then resume deliberating the attempted homicide charge.

The incident occurred at 1:50 p.m. in the area of 322 South Main St.

Troup said he has been disabled since he was 12 years old. He said that at the time of the incident, he was waiting for a friend to return from a restaurant near where he was parked. He had bungee cords holding down the hood of his car.

Then, Lenzi approached asking if Troup needed any help with the hood, adding that he used to be a locksmith. Troup went to the front of his car to release the bungee cords when Lenzi starting stabbing him.

“I never tried to hit him,” Troup said.

He said he doesn’t remember what happened after the stabbing, but he has no feeling in one of the fingers that was injured. Police said Lenzi stabbed Troup twice in the neck and twice in the back, and Troup had defensive wounds on his hands.

Police Officer Nathan Shulik testified that when he arrived he found Troup heavily bleeding from his neck and hands, and Lenzi was also there. He said witnesses reported that Lenzi stabbed Troup.

He said the knife, which had a 3-inch blade, was recovered and Lenzi was taken into custody and taken to the police station.

Photos of Troup’s injuries and Lenzi wearing a shirt with blood splatters, and a video recording of police interviewing Lenzi at the police station were used as evidence.

In the recorded interview, Lenzi told police that he was trying to help Troup, but Troup tried to hit him, so he stabbed him in self-defense.

“I was defending myself,” he said in the recording.

A witness, Trevor Gilbert, testified that he exited the post office across the street from the scene when he saw an older man on top of a younger man, and the older man was stabbing the younger man in the area of his shoulder and neck.

“It was horrible to see,” Gilbert said.

He said he yelled and screamed at the older man, but he kept stabbing the younger man.

Chad Cammisa, a county adult probation officer, said he was off duty and working in the basement of a nearby building when he heard people screaming outside.

He said he went outside and saw two men on the ground. The man on top was stabbing the other man, he said.

“It wasn’t a fight. It was a stabbing,” Cammisa said.

He said he approached from behind the man, drew his off-duty gun and ordered the man doing the stabbing to stop, drop the knife and get off of the other man.

After his commands drew no reaction, he said re-positioned himself to the side of the men, repeated his commands and threatened to shoot Lenzi. He said Lenzi looked at him, slowly got up and put the knife down.

Cammisa said he saw Lenzi stab Troup two to four times, and Troup used his hands to block Lenzi’s attack.

“I knew if I didn’t do something, the guy on the ground was going to die,” Cammisa said.

Lenzi, who used a device to help him hear in court, said he has difficulty hearing and is retired.

He testified that he saw Troup, whom he recognized, sitting in a car and he asked him if he wanted help with the hood of the car. He said Troup quickly got out of the car and the two encountered each other at the front of the car.

He said Troup turned toward him, got into an aggressive stance and made a movement. He said he was in fear of being injured, but didn’t intend to kill Troup.

“I thought I had to defend myself,” Lenzi said. “I guess I stabbed him.”

He said he eventually laid down the knife and backed up, but said he didn’t notice Cammisa until after he backed away from Troup.

He said he had the knife in his car, but he grabbed it before he approached Troup’s car because he thought he might need it to cut the bungee cords.