Aaron Ham with finance Andrea Hall's daughter
...Specifically, the 25-year-old Picture Rocks native had been stabbed more than 16 times, sliced about the face and head, and hit with a blunt object on his upper arms, chest and abdomen, according to autopsy and sheriff records. One stab wound to his skull was so violent it dented the bone.
Ham’s body was lying near the double-wide trailer on the property in the 6500 block of North Hot Desert Trail, where the woman lived with two roommates. One of those roommates was Scott Williams, who was passed-out a mere 3 feet from Ham’s body.
When roused, reports say 57-year-old Williams admitted to killing Ham.
The verdict? There was none. Ham’s brutal Sept. 21 killing never made it to trial. It instead made it into the category of self-defense.
“I was protecting my family,” Williams is quoted as saying in early sheriff reports. “That guy was crazy. He had a knife and I had a knife and I stabbed him.”
Arizona law justifies a self-defense killing if a person is warding off a physical attack, but it does not justify a killing “in response to verbal provocation alone.” Reports say Williams had a sore rib after the killing but told deputies, “I’ve had this before.”
The two women at the trailer said they didn’t see a thing. One claimed she didn’t even notice Ham’s dead body in the yard.
It boiled down to Williams’ word against Ham’s word – and Ham is dead....
...Both Williams and Ham had been drinking. Williams had been passed out at the scene. Reports say he was wobbling, had to be held up to remain standing, and reeked of alcohol.
Aaron’s autopsy report shows a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between .29 and .33. Arizona’s legal limit is .08. It also shows marijuana in his system.
“If a person weighing 132-pounds and 5-feet 9-inches tall had alcohol four times over the limit, how could he even stand, much less fight?” Donna Ham inquired about her son. “Makes me wonder how he could be a threat enough to be knifed 18 times.”...
