AUGUSTA — The trial of an Augusta man charged with killing his girlfriend is about to begin some 28 months after she was found stabbed to death in their apartment.
A jury of 11 men and five women – including four alternates – was selected Thursday to hear the case against Justin Pillsbury, 41, who has pleaded not guilty in the killing of Jillian T. Jones, 24, on Nov. 13, 2013.
The trial is scheduled to start Monday at the Capital Judicial Center. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.
Pillsbury has been held in jail since being released from a hospital on Nov. 15, 2013, where he was treated for apparently self-inflicted wounds to his neck. Investigators say Pillsbury tried to kill himself shortly after he killed Jones.
Police interviews with neighbors and others indicated Pillsbury was jealous because Jones had talked to another man on the phone.
A roommate of the couple, Michael St. Pierre, discovered Jones’ body in the Crosby Street apartment’s bathroom that night. He said he thought two people were dead because of the amount of blood he saw, according to transcripts of the call.
Jones, who grew up in Bingham, was attending beauty school in Waterville at the time of her death.
At jury selection Thursday, Pillsbury, in a blue dress shirt buttoned up to the throat and a dark suit jacket, sat between his attorneys, Stephen Smith and Caleb Gannon. The prosecutors are Assistant Attorneys General Donald Macomber and Meg Elam.
About a dozen people among the 180 in the jury pool said they had some prior knowledge of the case. Two people said they knew Pillsbury, and one knew Jones.
At a pretrial hearing in September 2014, Pillsbury’s attorney sought to keep from the jury recordings of interviews Maine State Police. Sgt. Christopher Tremblay, the lead detective in the case, had with Pillsbury while he was a patient at MaineGeneral Medical Center.
The judge denied the defense motion to suppress those statements, and the trial was scheduled for this month.
On one recording played at that hearing, Pillsbury, in a hoarse voice, initially refuses to answer questions. The next day, when Tremblay visits again, Pillsbury tells Tremblay he killed his girlfriend.
Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.