Rock Island man found guilty of 2018 murder of his wife argued self-defense in the dock |

WATERVILLE – Ului Teulilo was found guilty of murdering his wife by a Douglas County Superior Court jury Friday after taking the unusual step of testifying as a defendant in his own murder trial.

The trial began Monday and continued through Friday, with Teulilo testifying for more than an hour Thursday, a day before the jury returned a guilty verdict on both counts of first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree premeditated murder.

For 74-year-old Teulilo, testifying in his own murder trial is a right that every defendant is entitled to, but one that he rarely makes use of.

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Peggy Teulilo was found dead in a trailer she shared with her husband in Rock Island on July 25, 2018. An officer was dispatched to check on Peggy when her employer reported her missing. Teulilo was arrested the same day.

On July 24, 2018, Peggy called 911 at 7:42 a.m. to report that Teulilo was making veiled threats to get a gun and scare her, according to a Douglas County Sheriff's Office investigative report.

At 4:55 p.m., she met with a victim advocate at Sage, an agency that supports victims of abuse, to get help applying for a protection order. Because Sage was closed and the courts were closed, she was told to come back the next day, the report said.

Peggy was found dead 18 hours later.

Teulilo testified Thursday that when we were discussing or arguing in bed about Peggy's possible trip to see her son, she first attacked him with a trailer hitch.

Teulilo said he took the trailer hitch from her hand and pushed her away. Then, he said, she came at him again, this time with a hammer.

At that point, Teulilo said he swung the trailer hitch at her, hitting her in the forehead. During closing arguments on Thursday, the defense argued that Peggy died from that blow.

Teulilo said he was “still thrashing around” after hitting Peggy on the head.

When asked by his lawyer Richard Gilliland why he did not call the police immediately, Teulilo said he was scared and confused.

“I lost it,” he said.

He disposed of the hammer and trailer hitch in a nearby dumpster, Teulilo said.

During cross-examination, Douglas County Prosecutor Gordon Edgar first asked a question about a weapon.

Teulilo previously testified about a conversation he had with Peggy sometime between May and July 2018 about a gun he had purchased and kept secret from her.

During this conversation he said he would “blow her brains out”.

Edgar asked why he had even brought up the subject of the gun. Teulilo said he felt guilty because he had kept the gun a secret from her.

“Did you mention the gun during that conversation because your guilty conscience made you tell her you were going to blow her brains out?” asked Edgar.

Teulilo answered in the affirmative. However, when asked what tone of voice he had when he said these words, he said he could not remember.

The phrase “I don’t remember” was repeated several times during cross-examination in a tense back and forth when the events of July 25 were discussed.

Edgar asked if he had ever seen Peggy reach under the pillow, the bed, or into a nearby drawer to grab the hammer and trailer hitch when the two were in bed.

Teulilo said no.

“We also saw pictures of several injuries on her forehead,” Edgar said. “And the doctor, I believe, testified that there were three or four of these open wounds next to her forehead, on the top left side of her head. Do you remember those?”

“The first time I hit her, she fell down,” Teulilo said.

“So let's talk about it when she falls. Why do you still hit her?”

“I don't know. I can't explain why this happens.”

“So you hit her on the forehead and split her skull. She falls to the ground. Is she still after you?”

“NO.”

“How many times do you hit her when she's on the ground? You don't remember?

“NO.”

“They don't remember the doctor talking about 12 to 14 individual blows to her head and neck.”

“I don't remember.”

“Did you kneel on her ribs while she was on the ground, choke her with one hand, and hit her on the head?”

“I don't know. I don't remember.”

Teulilo answered Edgar's questions about Peggy's injuries many times that he couldn't remember. He also said he didn't have an answer as to whether he had intended to hit her in the head with a trailer hitch.

Before closing arguments, prosecutors amended the charges against Teulilo for a fourth time, removing factors related to domestic violence and setting a date for the arraignment.

On the fourth day of his murder trial, Teulilo pleaded not guilty to both counts of first-degree murder and second-degree murder.

In his closing argument on Thursday, Edgar argued that Teulilo's account of events does not stand up to closer scrutiny.

He drew attention to the immediate evidence and circumstantial evidence the jury had heard: the conversation about “blowing her brains out,” Peggy's statements to others that she was afraid of him, the purchase of a new cell phone and arguments about leaving her son, and the number of injuries Peggy had sustained.

“They argue twice about a gun, in one case she threatens to blow her brains out,” Edgar said. “And the next she tells everyone I'm leaving him and talks about a gun again. When you consider all the facts and look at the totality of the circumstances, his hitch in that bedroom. At no point was anything he did self-defense.”

Edgar also went into detail about the instructions the jury would follow to determine what specific elements of the law needed to be met in order to reach their verdicts.

“You're allowed to vacate convictions on both counts,” Edgar said. “You may think, 'Well, that's an act, actually a death,' and there are some machinations built into the system so we'll deal with that later. You don't have to worry about that. What you have to worry about now is whether the facts support the elements of the crime.”

Gilliland, Teulilo's attorney, drew the jury's attention to the initial investigation, which focused exclusively on the question of whether Teulilo had killed his wife with a gun.

“It changed everything, and why is that?” Gilliland said. “Because it changes the course of the investigation from a search for the truth to an investigation trying to fit a narrative that they already decided on at the beginning of the case.”

Gilliland argued that while many of Teulilo's past behavior as a human being may have been immoral or wrong, they did not meet the legal elements required to convict Teulilo of murder.

He looked at some photos of Peggy's injuries and claimed they were inflicted when Teulilo pushed her, contradicting the prosecution's claim that blood splatter at the crime scene indicated that Teulilo had attacked his wife and dragged her across the bed.

Gilliland also pointed to a photograph of Peggy's hand and a “pattern of missing blood” that suggested she may have been holding a cylindrical object, which supports Teulilo's account of events.

“The reality is there are no winners here,” Gilliland said. “There are no winners and no losers. We are all still bound by the law. You have to act accordingly. The state has an obligation to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. You swore an oath to uphold the law. I'm going to ask you to uphold your oath. Look at the evidence. Look at the details. Make a decision based on facts, not emotions.”

The jury began deliberations on Friday morning and returned a guilty verdict on both counts a few hours later.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled for October 22.

World News Editor Pete O'Cain contributed to this report.

Rock Island man found guilty of 2018 murder of his wife argued self-defense in the dock |

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