BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The defense attorney for a Baltimore City man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in Columbia asked a Howard circuit judge to exclude self-incriminating statements the man made to a paramedic.

Kazeem Akinniyi, 25, of 5138 Woolverton Ave., is accused of breaking into an apartment in the 5900 block of Turnabout Lane in December 2007 and repeatedly stabbing Jefferson Bolden, who was the boyfriend of Sharon Jones.

Akinniyi then tried to escape by jumping through a third-floor window and broke both of his legs, Howard police said.

The paramedic who treated Akinniyi testified Tuesday before Judge Lenore Gelfman that Akinniyi admitted to the stabbing in the ambulance on the way to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.

“He was really upset, because his girlfriend was with another person,” said Ashley Tartufo, a county fire department paramedic.

“He said he’d gotten into the apartment and stabbed the person who was with his girlfriend.”

But defense attorney Janette DeBoissiere asked Gelfman to exclude the statements from evidence because Tartufo asked Akinniyi non-medical questions before he was advised of his rights. 

She added that Akinniyi was in too much pain to give reliable answers and was never advised that his statements could be used against him.

Prosecutors argued the statements are admissible, because Akinniyi answered voluntarily and Tartufo was asking questions to keep him responsive and assess his injuries.

Though some questions were not medical in nature, prosecutors said, they were not designed as an interrogation on behalf of police.

Howard police Officer Eric Ward testified Tuesday that he rode in the ambulance and was advised by his sergeant not to ask questions but to record any comments Akinniyi made.

Ward testified that Akinniyi told Tartufo, “He was with my child’s mother; she had to be cheating on me. I don’t want to go to jail for this guy. ... It’s a shame people f--- their lives up like this. You try to make your girl love you, and this is what she does.”

Akinniyi is charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault and burglary.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com