PORTLAND – Prosecutors rested their case Friday in Chad Gurney’s murder trial, which is expected to conclude late next week in Cumberland County Superior Court.

The state’s final witness was Amber Wallace, 20, one of the defendant’s former girlfriends. She testified that Gurney invited her to his apartment on Cumberland Avenue in Portland on May 25, 2009, the day he killed Zoe Sarnacki.

Wallace knew that Gurney, who was then 27, was spending time with Sarnacki, who was 18.

But Wallace did not know that Sarnacki was at Gurney’s apartment on May 25. Wallace said Gurney sent her several text messages inviting her to come to the apartment after she got out of work that night.

Wallace said her relationship with Gurney had never been exclusive because he wanted to see more than one woman, and he preferred to be with women several years younger than he was.

When Wallace arrived at Gurney’s apartment after 9 p.m., there were police officers and firefighters inside and outside the building. Police took Wallace to headquarters to question her about Gurney, who was missing at the time.

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When he turned himself in to police the next morning, Gurney admitted to strangling Sarnacki, mutilating her body and setting her on fire inside his apartment.

He has pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or defect. Gurney’s attorneys claim he was delusional, hearing voices, and felt he was guided by symbols at the time of the killing.

Prosecutors say Gurney, before and after the incident, showed no signs that he suffered from any of those impairments.

Wallace said Gurney could be mean and withdrawn, but he had never been violent with her.

“The person I knew, I didn’t think that he would do that,” Wallace said.

She also testified that Gurney never talked to her about hearing voices, and that there were no indications he was ever delusional or suffering from a serious mental illness.

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Wallace visited Gurney in jail four or five times after his arrest. She testified that she asked him what would have happened if she, and not Sarnacki, had been in the apartment on the afternoon of May 25.

She said Gurney told her “that if I was the one who was there, nothing would have happened to me. He made reference to me being bigger than Zoe.”

Next week, doctors from the State Forensic Service are expected to testify that Gurney, though troubled, was legally sane when he killed Sarnacki.

An independent doctor hired by the defense is expected to testify that Gurney was delusional at the time and met the criteria for being legally insane.

If he is found guilty, Gurney will face a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life in prison.

If Justice Roland Cole finds him not criminally responsible, Gurney will be committed to the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta until he can prove to the court that he is no longer a threat to society.

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

tmaxwell@pressherald.com

 


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