AUGUSTA — The man accused of stabbing to death 92-year-old Aurele Fecteau of Waterville opted against testifying on Tuesday, the fourth day of his murder trial at the Capital Judicial Center.
Jurors were told to return for closing arguments and instructions on Wednesday and are expected to begin deliberations after that.
The prosecution and the defense both ended their presentations of evidence Tuesday, and the attorneys for the defendant, Roland L. Cummings, sought an acquittal from the bench.
Justice Michaela Murphy rejected the motion, saying that all four charges – murder, two counts of burglary and one count of theft – will be presented to the jury to decide.
The defense has maintained that Cummings was not the person who stabbed Fecteau to death in his bed in May 2014.
Most frequently, the defense attorneys have raised the possibility that it was Fecteau’s youngest son, David.
One of the defense witnesses, Yvonne Dutil of Waterville, testified Tuesday that she was with David Fecteau, a former boyfriend, about two weeks before his father’s body was discovered and that the younger man was angry at his father for selling a family boat that he had wanted.
“He wasn’t impressed with his father getting rid of the boat … and said he wanted his father dead,” she said.
Dutil said she asked David Fecteau at his father’s funeral whether he had killed him, and he told her, “No.”
The younger Fecteau himself took the stand on Friday and repeatedly denied killing his father in response to a series of questions from one of the prosecutors, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea.
The body of Aurele Fecteau was found in his home at 33 Brooklyn Ave. in Waterville, on May 23, 2014, by his eldest son, Ernest. Police theorize that Aurele Fecteau was killed around May 20, 2014.
Investigators have said DNA from Cummings, 46, of Waterville, was found on the turned-out pockets of three pairs of Fecteau’s trousers found piled next to his bed.
Christine Waterhouse, a forensic DNA analyst from the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory, testified Tuesday to finding a mixture of DNA profiles in skin cells on those pockets that indicated both Cummings and Aurele Fecteau.
Under questioning about mixed profiles by defense attorney Darrick Banda, Waterhouse said, “I’m not able to say who handled the item last.”
She also testified that Cummings’ DNA was found on the inside of a gold and sapphire ring identified as Aurele Fecteau’s by his family members. An empty ring box on the victim’s bed was pointed out to jurors in several photos of the crime scene.
Several of Fecteau’s neighbors testified that they saw him outside his home or in his garage a day or two before his body was found. Alton Hallee, who had worked at Scott Paper Co. in Winslow with Fecteau, said he had done some painting in Fecteau’s living room that week and Fecteau paid him on May 20, 2014.
One neighbor, Jade Noonan, testified Tuesday that she saw an unfamiliar car, a light blue to grayish four-door sedan, at Fecteau’s house on May 21, 2014.
The defense also questioned the state’s lead investigator on the case, Maine State Police Detective Christopher Tremblay, who testified that police did not find evidence of fibers or blood connecting Cummings to the murder scene.
A warrant was ordered briefly Tuesday morning when one witness, who had been with Cummings during part of the time period the state says Fecteau was killed, failed to appear in response to subpoenas and an order given orally to him from Murphy on Monday afternoon.
However, Duane Sawyer turned up at 9 a.m. and then was told his testimony was unnecessary.
Later, the judge read a stipulation of facts agreed to by the defense and prosecution saying that Sawyer and Cummings had gone together on May 22, 2014, at 11 p.m. to Fairfield to purchase Focalin, a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, from Cummings’ former girlfriend and then returned to Skowhegan.
On Monday, jurors saw a series of clips from surveillance videos that showed Cummings shopping at various stores in Waterville around the time police believe Fecteau was killed.
Later, the judge also told jurors that Cummings was on probation for a nonviolent offense when he was interviewed by police shortly after Fecteau’s death. Jurors heard Cummings tell the police about being on probation.
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