The trial testimonies in the Tasheonia Hills trial came to an end Thursday afternoon.

The prosecution finished with their last witness, a psychiatric doctor from New York City, who was on the stand. Shortly after, closing statements were heard.  

Tasheonia Hills was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing her mother, 44-year-old Irene Williams to death in their North Utica apartment in 2017.

The defense comes to the table saying she was in a state of psychosis during the murder. A state of a severe mental disorder in which thoughts and emotions are impaired.

On the other hand the prosecution's office stating Hills knew what she was doing and murdering her mother was a straight act of anger.

Now, it’s up to the jury to make the ultimate call if Hills is guilty or not guilty which will begin Friday at 10:00 a.m. inside the Oneida County Courthouse.

Leading up to Thursdays closing statements the defense brought their final witness to the stand on Wednesday. Dr. Norman Lesswing, a forensic psychologist practicing out of Syracuse, New York.

Lesswing testified on behalf of the defense after evaluating Hills four different times after the night of the murder, on February 6th, 2017. Dr. Lesswing stated in court Wednesday, that Hills was “extremely non cooperative in a hostile uncooperative manner.” This was said to prove  she was in a psychotic state at the time.

The prosecution went on to disagree with Dr. Lesswing bringing in their own key witnesses to testify. Coming to the stand Wednesday was Utica Police Sergeant Joshua Grande. Grande was questioned based on the evidence he retrieved from Hills’ personal cell phone. The information was later discussed  in witness testimony.

The next witness for prosecution or defense? , Hillary House, took the stand. House is a corrections officer for the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office. She described to  the jury an instance where Hills started shouting at an inmate for no apparent reason. She told Hills to go back to her cell but Hills refused. The defense countered this argument saying House did not hear what another inmate said to Hills initially in order to provoke the behavior.   

The prosecution's third witness to testify was Kimberly Hogan, also a corrections officer for the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office. Hogan described a physical altercation which took place inside the Oneida County Jail in 2018. This encounterment involved Hills beating up another inmate, punching her 3-4 times in the head.

The prosecution made point that Hills is an angry individual and not what they believe to be psychotic.

David Cady an investigator for Oneida County took the stand following Hogan. Cady described his duties as an investigator and his role of recording phone calls through a system the county uses called GTL.

Cady was on the stand for a brief period.

To close out the day, Dr. Alexander Bardey a forensic psychologist from New York City took the stand. During his testimony two phone calls were played in front of the jury. From the phone calls you could hear Hills talking to her brother.

The first call recorded took place on January 31st, 2017.

In the conversation, Hills can be heard saying she had to become a stripper to support herself to go to college. Her brother had no comment. She proceeded to say how she told her father this information and he had no response which she said made her angry. She was angry he wasn’t upset and wouldn’t support her financially to get out of the situation

A second phone call was recorded two days later on February 2nd. This call was again between her and her brother. Hills can be heard talking about her frustration with this “person she calls her mother.”

Dr. Bardey states on the record that this conversation showed a real disconnection with her family and displays the anger within Hills.