The mother of an Eau Claire man on trial for killing her boyfriend testified Tuesday about the fatal confrontation between the two men.

Carri McKinney, 42, whose son Dakota B. Hughes, 23, is facing homicide and aggravated assault charges for the March 2 shooting death of Seth. G. Smith, 27, of Venango County, was the last person to testify in the Butler County district attorney’s case against Hughes.

When testimony begins Wednesday, defense attorney Al Lindsay will begin presenting Hughes’ argument to the jury that the shooting was an act of self-defense.

McKinney testified that she had known Smith for years before a romantic relationship that started in February 2022 grew into a serious relationship last fall. She said they stayed at different places such as her house, her friend’s house, mobile homes and cabins. Attorneys in the case said they lived like vagabonds.

Smith and Hughes got along at first, but that changed after Smith began drinking, she said. Hughes saw the bruises Smith caused by assaulting her, but Hughes never saw Smith assault her, she said.

McKinney talked about a Feb. 17 incident in Venango County involving her and Smith.

She said Smith, who was wanted in Venango County for a probation violation, was staying in a shed and she would bring him items he wanted. This day, he got mad at her, head butted her and took her phone because she took too long to return with the items, she said.

McKinney said Smith was constantly worried about being arrested on the warrant.

After leaving the shed, she said she was driving her truck and Smith was driving his vehicle when he sped ahead of her, turned around, drove toward her and forced her off the road. The truck struck a tree and couldn’t be driven, she said.

She managed to get to the home of Smith’s mother and stepfather, Jodi and Douglas Villmer.

Douglas Villmer, who testified before McKinney, said she was shaken up and upset, and told him what Smith had done, but she didn’t want to report the incident to police. He said he called his wife and she called police.

He described Smith and McKinney as friends and said he didn’t think they were romantically involved.

Villmer said McKinney used his phone to call Hughes to pick her up. When Hughes arrived, he said he would kill Smith the next time he saw him, Villmer said.

He said he wasn’t surprised by what Hughes said, because Hughes was upset.

Police said that incident involving McKinney and Smith in their vehicles took place on Blair Road in Irwin Township, and resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for Smith.

McKinney talked about the shooting, beginning with events that she said took place March 1, when she and Smith were staying at her friend’s home.

After staying there for several days, she said Smith grabbed her by her hair and slammed her face into a wall before pulling her by her hair into the garage where he pushed her head onto the floor several times.

“When I woke up, he was gone,” McKinney said.

The bruises and cuts on her face were documented in photographs taken by state police following the shooting on March 2, she said. Those photos were displayed to the jury. She said Smith had assaulted her before, but she lied to her family to conceal the assaults.

On March 2, McKinney said Smith returned to her friend’s home and apologized. She said Smith told her he would go in the house and gather her belongings so they could leave. He didn’t want her to go in the house out of fear her friend would see and ask about her injuries, she said.

After driving around a while, she said they pulled into a camp with a “partially knocked down house,” but Smith got angry at her because she locked the keys in the house, she said. During the ensuing argument, she said Smith told her they couldn’t stay there because of the scene she caused.

They drove to Parker and parked somewhere because he said he needed time to come up with a plan, McKinney said. Smith was drinking vodka and whiskey and had at least a couple cans of beer, she said. She described Smith as an alcoholic.

They decided to go to her home so she could get a debit card that had just arrived in the mail, and they arrived there shortly after 7 p.m., she said.

On the way there, McKinney said she told Smith to stay in the car while she retrieved the card, and Smith told her he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, and that Hughes needed to learn to respect her and him.

When they arrived, Smith hurried out of his vehicle and entered the home before McKinney, she said.

Inside, Hughes was in the kitchen and Smith was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room with his hands against the doorway, she said.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope said McKinney didn’t tell police in her written statement or during her interview that Smith was blocking the doorway between the rooms.

While she was looking for her debit card in the dining room, she said she heard Hughes tell Smith he wasn’t welcome in the home and told him to leave.

Smith told Hughes the house wasn’t his and that Hughes wasn’t his “favorite person either,” she said.

McKinney said she believes Smith stood in the doorway to try to prevent Hughes from seeing her bruised face, but at one point she and Hughes made eye contact.

She said Smith threw the can of beer he was drinking against a wall, asked Hughes if he was “going to be tough” a number of times and continued speaking angrily to Hughes through clenched teeth.

McKinney said Smith then stepped into the kitchen and she heard him ask Hughes if he was going to “use that thing.”

She said she was going to grab Smith to get him to leave with her when she heard gunshots. After Smith fell backward, McKinney said Hughes was standing with a gun in his hand.

McKinney said Hughes was upset and shaking, didn’t know what to do and said “mom, mom,” and she told Hughes to get away from her and call 911.

Hughes and McKinney called 911 to report the shooting and provided statements to police.