Felt ‘pure rage’ during murder

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This article was published 08/04/2021 (1841 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Michael Bridges testified earlier this week he was experiencing “pure rage” when he murdered Erin Chorney, later giving a tearful apology to her family members.

An argument on the day of the April 2002 killing started after Chorney said she wouldn’t drop assault charges from a previous incident, Bridges testified Monday.

“When we started arguing about it, I started to get mad,” Bridges said under questioning from defence lawyer Carley Mahoney. “I was thinking just pure rage, just angry. I wanted to hurt her as bad as I could.”

The court heard earlier in the hearing that Bridges choked Chorney before holding her head underwater in a bathtub. After killing her, he buried her body in someone else’s grave.

Bridges detailed his upbringing, which he described as “hard.” His family never talked about their feelings, he said, and as a teenager and young adult, he turned to alcohol to cope. Bridges said he drank every day and described himself as an alcoholic.

At the time of the murder, Bridges said he was trying to protect himself from going to jail. He said he didn’t care about Chorney’s family in the moment.

While choking back tears, he said Chorney was very special and someone he could love and count on — two things he lacked from his family growing up.

After Bridges read the court an apology letter he wrote during an exercise in prison, Mahoney asked him if there was anything else he wanted to say.

“I just want to tell her family how sorry I am, sorry that I robbed you of the chance of having Erin in your lives,” Bridges said through tears. He spoke with his head down but looked at Chorney’s family seated in the courtroom periodically.

“I saw how much she cared about you. She did not deserve to die. She was supposed to be here… to share her experiences with you.”

“You prayed for answers, you asked for help, and you received none, because I was too much of a coward to admit to what I did.”

— Brandon Sun