PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Jurors began deliberations Tuesday in the murder trial of a man who is accused of placing a gun to the neck of a sheriff’s deputy and pulling the trigger.
Attorneys used their closing arguments to focus on defendant John Williams’ state of mind, with the prosecution saying he knew exactly what he was doing and the defense saying he was sleep-deprived and high on cocaine and heroin.
Both sides agree that Williams fired the shot that killed Cpl. Eugene Cole last year in Norridgewock. At issue is whether Williams intended to kill the officer.
Cole, who was 61, was the first law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 30 years in Maine.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese said Williams was angry and resentful over his girlfriend’s arrest days earlier and wanted to avoid going to jail himself when shot Cole at point-blank range.
“The point is not whether this defendant was acting irrationally. It’s whether he was acting intentionally or knowingly,” she said.
The defense contends Williams’ drug use and lack of sleep left him too impaired to meet the legal standard for intentionally killing Cole.
The defense also said Williams confessed that he “eliminated” the deputy after being beaten and taunted during his arrest several days after the killing. He’d been hiding in the woods, was emaciated and suffering from drug withdrawal.
Marchese referenced Williams’ arrest in her closing statement, saying she would not condone what happened during it.
The defendant was “acting on adrenaline and instinct” when he pulled out his gun, flipped off the safety and fired, said defense attorney Verne Paradie.
Testimony during the trial indicated Cole intended to arrest Williams on drug charges when the two met on April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock.
Cole slipped and fell to the ground, and his gun remained holstered, before a single gunshot hit him in the neck, just below his skull, severing his spinal cord and killing him almost instantly, officials said.
Williams wanted to avoid jail at all costs but was unable to think things through in that instant, Paradie said.
For a murder conviction, the prosecution must show that Williams either intended to kill the deputy or shot him with the knowledge that he’d almost certainly die from the wound.
Jurors can also convict Williams of a lesser charge of manslaughter. The legal definition for manslaughter is that a death was caused through criminally negligent actions.
Cole, who lived in Norridgewock, was known for treating people humanely. Some of the 3,600 people who attended his funeral wore T-shirts quoting the Bible verse that included the phrase “blessed are the peacemakers.”
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