PORTLAND – Marion Shea defended herself as her boyfriend stabbed her repeatedly in his apartment last year, the state’s chief medical examiner testified Wednesday in the murder trial of William Hanaman.

Dr. Margaret Greenwald said Shea, who was 47, was stabbed once in the chest, twice in the abdomen, twice near her left hip, once in her left thigh, once in her left buttock and once in her left arm above the elbow.

“I’ll refer to those as defensive-type wounds,” Greenwald said of the injuries to the left side of Shea’s body. “They occur typically when the victim is trying to shield themselves from the weapon.”

The testimony appeared to be a blow to Hanaman’s claim that he was defending himself when he stabbed Shea during a fight on Nov. 10, 2009.

On cross-examination, Hanaman’s lawyer focused Greenwald’s attention on the most damaging wound — the deep stab wound to the chest that punctured Shea’s left lung and pulmonary artery.

Attorney Robert Levine suggested that the injury happened as Shea attacked Hanaman with the knife and he grabbed her arms and redirected the weapon toward Shea’s chest.

Looking at the track of the wound, Greenwald said that scenario was possible, though unlikely.

The prosecution is expected to continue calling witnesses today as the trial enters its third day in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Hanaman, 52, has been held without bail since his arrest more than a year ago. If convicted, he will face a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life in prison, with no possibility of early release.

Police broke into Hanaman’s apartment on the morning of Nov. 11, 2009, after receiving a phone call from his sister, who was concerned. They found Shea’s body on the bedroom floor, and Hanaman, barely breathing, curled up next to her. He was rushed to Maine Medical Center to be treated for an overdose of oxycodone.

Hanaman had written a suicide note, and had lit candles around the apartment and turned the television to a country music channel.

“I can’t live in this hell anymore,” Hanaman wrote in the note, addressed to his sister. “We both loved each other but the evil world had its way. All that’s good turns bad.”

The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, said the year-long relationship between Hanaman and Shea turned violent, and Hanaman’s aggression toward her was fueled by alcohol and drugs.

Hanaman was arrested on a domestic-assault charge on Oct. 7, 2009, about a month before the killing. A Portland police officer found the couple walking in the rain on Presumpscot Street, and arrested Hanaman after seeing an injury above one of Shea’s eyes. Zainea says that altercation foreshadowed the killing.

Levine, Hanaman’s lawyer, claims Shea was the violent one in the relationship, and she accidentally caused her own injury on Oct. 7 by hitting her head while fighting with Hanaman.

In his opening statement on Tuesday, Levine said Hanaman intends to testify and will tell the jury that Shea got angry and violent when Hanaman confronted her over her abuse of prescription painkillers including oxycodone.

Greenwald, the medical examiner, testified that Hanaman had a large amount of oxycodone in his system when he arrived at the hospital. He also had acetaminophen, ibuprofen, alcohol and an allergy medication in his system.

Shea had detectable levels of oxycodone, ibuprofen and marijuana in her system, as well as metabolites of cocaine and the painkiller Darvan. The oxycodone level was within therapeutic levels, Greenwald said.

There were fresh bruises on Shea’s legs, and there were abrasions above her right eye and below her left eye, Greenwald testified.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com