Noah Johnson Daily Press Defendant Jacob Cronick took the witness stand during the fourth day of his jury trial.

ESCANABA — The jury trial for Jacob Cronick of Bark River, who is accused of shooting his ex-father-in-law, continued Thursday with testimony from two witnesses in Delta County Circuit Court. He is charged with one count of felony firearm and one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation.

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday. Thursday, the defense called Cronick to testify.

The shooting took place on Jan. 21, 2024, when Cronick’s ex-wife, Alexandria “Alex” Parrotta, came to Cronick’s residence to retrieve some of her belongings from the garage with some other people. An altercation broke out, which resulted in the shooting.

During his testimony, Cronick provided details on his relationship with the victim, Eric Parrotta, his ex-father-in-law.

Defense Attorney Michael Boyle asked a visibly emotional Cronick what his emotions were being on the stand. He said he was terrified and very nervous. Boyle asked Cronick to look at his mugshot on the screen and asked what it represents.

“The worst day of my life,” Cronick replied.

“That’s the day I lost my son. That was the day I feared for my life.”

Boyle asked Cronick about his interactions with Alex and Eric during custody exchanges.

Boyle referenced New Year’s Eve, 2022. Cronick said that was the day he was denied parenting time.

He said he and his brother were on the way to Eric’s residence to meet Alex and retrieve their child. He said he brought his brother because he was uncomfortable.

He said when he pulled into the residence, Eric was on the porch and approached the vehicle. His brother stepped out, but Eric walked to the passenger side door and began to call Cronick names such as ‘little boy’ and saying Cronick was acting like a child.

He said he believed Eric was trying to draw a reaction from him so that Cronick would react, giving Eric the opportunity to shoot him and call it self-defense or get Cronick arrested for putting his hands on him.

He eventually told his brother that they were going to leave because he was not going to be assaulted any longer.

“Me and my brother drove away. I got halfway down the road, (and) I had to pull over, and I started crying because I was afraid. I was frustrated. And again, I didn’t even have my son with me, who I was there to get. It was an ambush,” Cronick said.

He said that the next day, he texted Alex and communicated that Eric’s actions the day prior made him uncomfortable. He said he also visited the state police and got advice from a trooper.

Cronick said he took the trooper’s advice and went to his family lawyer to see about modifying an attorney order to prevent Eric from being around Cronick. He said he also reached out to the county clerk about a potential Personal Protection Order (PPO) but was told a PPO could not be filed unless there were two incidents.

Cronick referenced another incident in May 2023 when he claimed Eric walked 40 yards across his yard to get in his face.

Cronick also spoke about the day of the incident, saying he had no problem with Alex bringing help, including Alex DuBord, who was her boyfriend at the time before the two engaged.

“I would much rather deal with Chris than anybody from that family,” Cronick said.

Cronick said he was observing the group that came to grab Alex’s belongings from the garage from a window.

He said once he saw Eric get out of a truck, he went outside to reiterate to Eric and Alex that he was not supposed to be on his property. He said while he was upset that Eric was there, he never changed his posture, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his phone to record.

He said Eric tried to walk past him into the garage. He put his hand up to stop him when Cody Richards, a friend of Alex and DuBord who was there to help move items, got involved and allegedly said, “I’ll stop this.”

Eric and his brother John Parrotta raised their hands to Richards and said, “No, he won’t.”

Just before Eric slapped the phone out of his hand, Cronick said he had no idea he would be slapped and thought it was just more of the same bickering.

He reiterated that he believed Eric was trying to get him to react, saying Eric is a smart man.

After the phone was slapped, he said he believed Eric was set up to kill him.

After slamming Eric on the hood of the car, Richards began choking him from behind, saying ‘time to go to sleep.’

Cronick said when he heard that, he thought he was about to be killed.

“It felt like forever,” he said, referring to how long Richards held him.

Once he got free, he felt like more attacks were coming and heard yelling.

He said he then reached into his vest pocket and pulled his gun. When he looked around, he said he couldn’t see clearly, but he could see colors.

He said he pushed down a person in green (Richards) and was trying to get to his phone. He then saw a blue blob (Alex) coming towards him and pushed her away.

He said he saw one of the men (Eric) raise his hand like he was drawing a gun.

“I react… I bring up my gun, and I shoot,” Cronick said.

After shooting, Cronick walks behind Eric, saying he is focused on his hands to make sure there is no gun. John steps in front of Cronick and tells him that they are leaving. He then grabbed his phone, walked inside, and called his family and the authorities.

Once officers arrived, including Delta County Sergeant Mike Groleau, Cronick was sitting in a lawn chair with his hands up. Groleau, Cronick, and another deputy enter the house and ask questions.

During cross-examination, Prosecuting Attorney Lauren Wickman asked about Cronick’s fear of Eric, saying he did not mention his fear to a judge that settled a small claims suit between Eric and Cronick.

She also mentioned his prior history of wrestling in high school, asking if he had been pinned down before and what he does when he is out of a wrestling hold.

He said you don’t think while wrestling; you react.

Wickman asked if that was the same for the day of the incident; Cronick responded that he was reacting before he was thinking, but started to react without thinking only after his life was threatened.

Wickman also spoke about Cronick’s size, which is roughly 6’4” and weighs 260 pounds, compared to Eric, who is approximately 5’8″ and 130 pounds.

She asked if Cronick thought slamming Eric on the car was an equal amount of force in response to the phone being slapped out of his hand.

“Physical for physical,” he said.

Wickman pointed out that Cronick had not seen Eric with a handgun, but he assumed he had a gun on him because he had slapped the phone out of Cronick’s hand.

She said Cronick was taking a leap by thinking Eric had a gun, and Cronick said he believed that because it was someone of Eric’s size attacking him.

Wickman also pointed out that Cronick never disclosed to Groleau or the deputy that he thought Eric had a gun.

“Don’t you think it’s important to tell these officers who were investigating the case that he had a gun, and that’s why I fired my gun,” Wickman asked.

Cronick explained he is seeing two trauma therapists, and they explained to him that a traumatic experience can force the brain to block certain details out.

After the defense rested, Wickman called Groleau back to the stand as a rebuttal witness.

He said in his 18-year career in law enforcement; he dealt with 15 to 20 situations where a gun was pointed at an individual.

“That’s usually the first thing they mention,” Groleau said.

The defense also called a new witness to the stand, Kim Schlenvogt, a co-worker of DuBord and Richards. Richards went to work shortly after and began recounting the experience to Schlenvogt. She said Richards was very animated while explaining the tussle, including the choking. She also said she asked Richards if he carried (a gun) and he said yes, as well as if he had seen someone shot before, to which he said yes. She said Richards liked to talk smack, and she didn’t believe he had ever seen anyone get shot before that day but believed he did indeed have a gun.

Wickman took issue with Schlenvogt believing one statement from Richards but not the other.

Schelenvogt said she didn’t believe the statement about Richards seeing someone being shot because he told her the next day he had not.

“But you’ve never seen Cody (Richards) with the gun before,” Wickman asked.

She said no.

Richards was briefly on the stand before Schlenvogt but indicated he would evoke his Fifth Amendment right if he were asked right if he was asked certain questions.

The trial continues with closing statements today, starting at 8:30 a.m.