BANGOR — The mother of a Newport man who is on trial for killing his 76-year-old father said Tuesday that she took her son to the hospital on the two days before the violent outburst in October 2009.

The trial of Perley Goodrich Jr., 46, got under way Tuesday after the judge’s decision that the defendant is competent to stand trial.

Goodrich is using an insanity defense.

Sandra Goodrich testified that tension was nearing the breaking point as she took her son to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield before the killing.

On the first day, he returned home with a prescription. On the second day, he was transferred to a mental health facility before checking himself out and taking a taxi home.

After his return home the second time, Sandra Goodrich said, her son had a violent outburst after 11 p.m. in which he tried to bind her with duct tape before beating her.

She said he left the room when her husband called out from another part of the house. Sandra Goodrich testified that her son left the room and she heard a gunshot.

“I heard my husband’s last words, ‘He shot me, he shot me,’ ” Sandra Goodrich testified tearfully. “I’ll remember those words for the rest of my life.”

The Bangor Daily News reported that Perley Goodrich Jr. sat nearly motionless during his mother’s testimony in the Penobscot Judicial Center.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson told jurors in his opening statement that Perley Goodrich Sr. was killed as he was trying to call police on Oct. 26, 2009.

The son fled the home and was arrested after a four-day manhunt.

More than 50 officers and crews in three aircraft searched for him.

Goodrich was arrested after a waitress recognized him drinking coffee at a truck stop in Newport.

In February 2010, he pleaded not guilty and not criminally responsible by reason of insanity to the three charges.

 

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