AUGUSTA — Kenneth McDonald was sentenced to 30 years in prison for stabbing and beating his mother to death a year ago.

At the sentencing hearing Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court, McDonald described the events that led up to his mother’s death Aug. 24, 2009, after she refused to allow him to take a vacation to the coast.


“This happened because I wanted to prove to my mother I could do something on my own…. I tried to convince her. I couldn’t,” McDonald said. “I wish I could take it back.”


Defense Attorney James Billings said McDonald, 44, had become increasingly angry at his mother’s refusal to let him go on a vacation.
 

“The years of control and physical abuse at the hands of his mother led to an explosion,” he said.


Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said Janice McDonald, 80, “did the best she could to raise her son whom she understood had certain limitations.”


“Janice McDonald didn’t deserve to die,” Zainea said. “He went into the kitchen, he got the knife, and he murdered his mother.”
 

Justice Michaela Murphy said she recognized that McDonald was highly dependent on his mother and is remorseful about having killed her.

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