QuickTake:

Saying he fired fatal shots in self defense, Everett Fuller testified in his own murder trial.

A self-described pacifist, Everett Fuller had a confession of sorts when asked about his actions on the night he fatally shot Christopher Lee Clark Jr.

“I could have been more skillful towards my pacifistic endeavors,” Fuller, 57, said in response to questioning from Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Geil at his murder trial Friday, May 29.

But Fuller said he feared being yanked down by Clark from a tall platform and being badly injured or killed from the fall. During opening arguments, an attorney for Fuller said the platform stood 5-foot-8-inches above a concrete floor.

Fuller said he had been sitting in a rolling office chair when Clark grabbed his leg, and he called the shooting an act of self-preservation, albeit a reaction rather than a conscious act.

“I was just as surprised as everyone else,” Fuller said of the shooting. He described seeing Clark’s “eyes are like losing focus,” as Clark slumped forward, and becoming aware of his own elbow in motion.

“I didn’t ever make the choice. I just noticed after it happened I had shot him,” Fuller said.

Fuller, 57, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Clark, killed on Dec. 26, 2024, at Prindel Creek Farm in a remote area of northwest Lane County, about 25 miles east of Yachats.

Fuller’s wife, Christine Fuller, had entered into a relationship with Clark, according to testimony.

Everett Fuller and Christine Fuller lived separately, but had spent Christmas Day together with their two sons, according to testimony.

Fuller testified that he ran “a software-service type of business,” working in an office on the property. Clark was an “exceptional mechanic” able to fix-up tractors at the farm, Fuller said.

The farm property had multiple residents, some described by attorneys as living in a trailer or yurt, and Clark’s shooting took place in a building with a pool table used at times as a place for socializing.

Fuller testified that his wife had reneged on a plan to meet with their sons. He said he left his house wearing a “zip-up hoodie with deep pockets” that contained a handgun.

Under questioning, Fuller said he went to a building known to farm residents as the “Packing Shed” as a “reminder” to his wife that “she’s skipping the obligation that she made without any communication with me at all.”

At one point, Christine Fuller walked out, and Geil asked Fuller how he felt to have been “ignored.”

“I could understand that she was just uncomfortable, probably because she had been drinking,” Fuller said, though he said he did not actually see her consume any alcohol.

Others were in the “Packing Shed,” and Fuller said remarks he made within earshot of Clark — about what Fuller saw as his untrustworthiness after a handshake agreement about not entering into a relationship with Christine Fuller – led Clark to become angry.

Clark “was raising his voice, he was turning red in the face, even going on purple,” Fuller said under questioning from John Kolego, a defense attorney for Fuller.

Geil questioned Fuller about remarks by Clark about the chair Fuller was sitting in belonging to Clark.

“He told you it was his chair, and you’re refusing to get out of it,” Geil said.

“Yes, sir,” Fuller replied.

Fuller testified that Clark “stepped forth and grabbed my left leg above the foot, at the lower shin, with both hands and tried to forcefully remove me from the chair.” He said he tried to kick Clark away, but didn’t make contact, and felt himself getting pulled off the chair.

The trial began Wednesday, May 27, and is set to resume Tuesday.