Court Hears Startz Police Interview in ‘Party Game’ Case

She hasn’t testified in court, but a Will County judge heard Tiffany Startz’s version of the night John Powell died as prosecutors played video of a police interview Startz gave days after the Romeoville man's "party game" death.

Judge Edward Burmila viewed the DVD during the second day of Startz’s bench trial. The 22-year-old graduate is charged with battery and reckless conduct in the September 2010 death of Powell, who collapsed after accepting $5 to take a punch to the face.

Powell, 25, was pronounced dead at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. Will County Coroner Pat O’Neil ruled the death a homicide, saying the force of the punch caused Powell’s head to snap back, rupturing an artery and causing a brain hemorrhage. on Powell's death certificate.

Startz' trial began Monday after her former co-defendant, Jimmy Mounts, copped a plea, admitting to lying to police about the circumstances surrounding Powell’s death. In exchange, prosecutors dropped battery and reckless conduct charges against Mounts, the man they say offered Powell $5 to let Startz punch him.

‘I was freaking out’

In her video testimony, Startz’s account does not dispute the facts outlined by prosecutors.

On Sept. 25, 2010, Startz was attending a party held in memory of a Plainfield woman who had committed suicide. Accompanied by her boyfriend, Anthony Vance, Startz watched Powell, under the stage name “Fatboy,” perform as part of rap duo “Krazy Killaz.”

After the rap performance, which took place in the basement of a Crest Hill home, partygoers moved the festivities to the garage—where Mounts made the fateful dare, and Powell accepted.

“He was standing there ready for it and I punched him,” Startz told police in the video. Powell initially appeared to be fine, Startz said, but after several minutes, he stumbled and fell to the floor.

“Everyone thought he was joking,” she said in the interview.

Contradicting at least one witness , Startz said that in addition to being punched, Powell also struck his head on the concrete garage floor.

“I think his head hit the ground,” Startz said in the police interview video. “His knees hit the ground first, then the rest of his body.”

She said other partygoers attempted to help Powell.

“He was awake, but he wasn’t really functioning,” Startz told police. “They were tossing water on his face. … He couldn’t talk or anything.”

In her interview, Startz admitted to leaving the party before police and an ambulance arrived.

“I was freaking out,” she said, “So I left after someone called 911.”

‘[He] said it was a good punch’

Burmila also heard from Vance, Startz’s ex-boyfriend.

Vance testified that he brought Startz to the party, held at the home of Jimmy Mounts’ nephew.

He backed up the story that Jimmy Mounts was offering $5 to anyone willing to be punched in the face by a girl, saying that Mounts then named Startz as the one who would be taking the swing.

After Powell agreed, Vance said Startz prepared to hit him.

“She took off the [jewelry] on her fingers,” he said. “I was holding them. Everyone backed away from him. He stood there, put his chin out and took the punch. … John actually bumped fists with her [afterward] and said it was a good punch.”

After that, “everyone went back to socializing,” Vance said—that is, until Powell collapsed.

Vance said Powell “hit the side of his face [and] jaw when he fell,” he said. “ … I pretty much just stood there, shocked.”

Vance also acknowledged that he and Startz left the party before police arrived.

Echoing Monday’s testimony by two female partygoers, several witnesses admitted that they initially lied to police, telling them Powell tripped on a 2-by-4 that was bolted to the garage floor, then fell and struck his head on the concrete floor.

Christopher Ciro admitted to telling another story—that he had been in the basement when Startz struck Powell and hadn’t seen anything.

But earlier, prosecutors played a cell-phone video of the event apparently filmed by Ciro. The teen, now 16, acknowledged that he turned the phone over to detectives in the days following Powell’s death.

“[I was] just nervous,” Ciro said when asked why he initially lied about witnessing the incident.

Trial resumes Thursday

Powell’s mother, Theresa Guy, was in the courtroom as Startz’s video interview played, but left when another DVD—this one of a cell phone video of Startz actually striking Powell in the face—was shown.

The trial is scheduled to resume at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Will County Courthouse.