For the second-straight day, Erick Hernandez-Mendez took the stand in his own trial for murder and denied killing Christina Maria Matos, the young Raleigh woman he married days before her stabbing death.

The 23-year-old maintained in Wake County Superior Court that he wed 20-year-old Matos as a “sham” only to keep legal immigration status. He testified that, rather than kill Matos, he witnessed her roommate stab her and threaten to harm his family afterward.

“I needed Christina to be alive more than anything,” he said Tuesday, adding, “To have her dead doesn’t benefit me.”

Matos was killed at her Hillsborough Street apartment complex near N.C. State University in April 2021, the victim of 16 stab wounds.

She and Hernandez-Mendez had graduated from Clayton High School together, and they received a marriage license in February 2021 shortly before their March wedding.

Police charged him with Matos’ murder shortly afterward in April.

Testimony throughout the trial has suggested Hernandez-Mendez had offered to pay Matos $15,000 to help him become a legal U.S. resident, and he testified Tuesday to being gay.

On the witness stand Tuesday, Hernandez-Mendez also testified that he initially lied to police about details in the case, saying he last saw Matos when he let her in the apartment’s bathroom but did not speak to her. From the witness stand this week, he has repeatedly blamed the stabbing on her roommate Kailey Lynch-Firicano, who was charged as an accessory and with obstruction of justice two years later.

Throughout his testimony, the defendant has testified that he saw Lynch-Firicano stab his wife but was frightened by her threats to harm his family afterward. He purchased the cleaning supplies afterward.

“I was basically covering up,” he said, adding, “I’m sure you’re not going to be in your right mind if you witnessed a murder. I witnessed Kailey brutally stab one of my best friends.”

Assistant District Attorney Stacy Wells Newton picked at his testimony, asking how he could be believable after lying to homicide detectives and federal officials about his immigration status.

“Because it’s what happened,” he said, also testifying, “I only lied about the murder part.”

Several witnesses afterward described Hernandez-Mendez as a peaceful person who came to the United States with his mother as a very young boy.

Final arguments in the case continue Tuesday afternoon.