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AUGUSTA

All agree he killed his mother

But the defense says it was manslaughter, not murder

By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Janice McDonald tried to fight off a vicious knife attack at the hands of her youngest son before succumbing to her wounds on Aug. 24, 2009.

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ON TRIAL: Kenneth McDonald listens to opening arguments Monday at his trial in the killing his mother, Janice McDonald, at the Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

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The state says it's a depraved act of murder. The defense says it's an act of manslaughter, provoked by a lifetime of abuse.

A Kennebec County Superior Court jury will decide this week.

No one argues that Kenneth McDonald beat and stabbed his mother to death in the Monmouth home they shared. McDonald was indicted on one count of murder, and pleaded not guilty to that charge.

In Monday's opening statements, prosecutor Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea questioned neighbors and family members about the relationship between the mother and son -- the central element of Kenneth McDonald's defense.

Most said Kenneth McDonald, 44, was quiet, and that they never heard the pair argue.

But defense attorney James Billings said the violent attack was triggered after Janice McDonald repeatedly refused to allow Kenneth McDonald, her youngest son, to take a trip to the coast.

"He contends he did so out of extreme fear or extreme anger because he was provoked," Billings said.

Billings said Janice McDonald also refused to change his doctor's appointment and to call his workplace to say he would be gone. Kenneth McDonald worked four days every other week at the Monmouth Transfer Station.

Billings said Kenneth McDonald, who was described by family members as "slow," depended on his mother for everything, even for permission to take money out of his own bank account.

An older brother, Carl McDonald, told the court he once tried to teach Kenneth to drive but quit after Kenneth froze on the gas pedal.

"I figured that was the end of that," Carl McDonald testified.

Neither Janice nor Kenneth McDonald drove -- so they relied on rides from relatives, friends and neighbors. Kenneth McDonald frequently walked around the town, and those familiar with him occasionally gave him rides.

Billings told jurors they should find McDonald guilty of manslaughter -- not murder. He said Janice McDonald was her son's best friend, but she constantly told him he was incapable of doing anything on his own.

Billings said Kenneth McDonald asked his mother several times for permission to take a trip -- until finally an argument ensued early on Aug. 24, 2009.

"She did not approve of the plan. She became angry. She slapped him across the face," Billings said. "At that point, he boiled over, he snapped.

"He picked up the knife off her bedside table. He doesn't really remember that.

"He basically knows he stabbed his mother to death."

Zainea told jurors Janice McDonald, who was 80 at the time of her death, lay defenseless -- clad only in a nightgown -- as the youngest of her seven children repeatedly stabbed her.

"Her throat was cut so severely, it severed her jugular vein and her carotid artery," Zainea told jurors.

Zainea said McDonald left a bloodied handprint on his mother's bathroom wall as he left her room to go to the bathroom to change his bloodied T-shirt and pajama bottoms.

Witnesses testified about the discovery of Janice McDonald's body, and Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Marguerite Dewitt testified the cause of death was sharp-force and blunt-force injuries of the head and neck.

She described a multitude of injuries on the body of the 161-pound, 5-foot-4 inch woman, including a stab wound "into the eye socket, though the back of the eye socket and ... into the brain."

Dewitt testified that the arms showed some defensive wounds, and that the most severe wounds were around the head and neck.

Zainea told jurors in her opening statement her job is to prove McDonald is guilty of intentional or knowing murder -- or of committing murder with depraved indifference, which means exhibiting "almost total lack of regard for the value of human life."

She showed jurors a black-and-white picture of a smiling Janice McDonald wearing a white blouse and a dark sweater.

Then she showed a color photo of the woman's body atop her bed, with her legs bare, her torso covered by a pile of bedclothing.

For part of the day, witnesses testified about Kenneth McDonald's whereabouts and calm demeanor as he made his way from Monmouth to Lewiston and finally hitchhiked to Bailey Island in the 24 hours after his mother's death.

Three people watched the opening day of the trial from the benches at the rear of the courtroom.

Wearing a light blue shirt and light blue tie, Kenneth McDonald sat quietly through the testimony. He has been in custody since his arrest Aug. 25, 2009.

Fourteen people testified on Monday, as the state began presenting its case. Billings told jurors the could expect to hear from Kenneth McDonald when the defense presents its case.

The trial, which is expected to last all week, is to resume at 8:30 today.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com