{"id":4322,"date":"2016-12-19T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T20:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=4322"},"modified":"2016-12-19T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T20:09:20","slug":"defense-tries-show-accused-killers-feet-big-crime-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2016\/12\/19\/defense-tries-show-accused-killers-feet-big-crime-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense tries to show accused killer\u2019s feet too big to have been at crime scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judy Harrison<\/a>
\nJen Lynds contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n

MACHIAS, Maine \u2014 A private investigator hired by the defense on Monday measured the feet of Matthew Davis, who is accused of slaying an Oakfield couple more than three years ago as part of a crime spree, to show jurors that his size 10\u00bd feet were two sizes larger than the footprints found at two of the scenes.<\/p>\n

Davis, 35, of Houlton, is accused of shooting Michael Kitchen, 51, and Heidi Pratt, 49,<\/a> to death in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, 2013, in the Oakfield home they shared, setting their house ablaze and fleeing in a stolen pickup truck. Davis also is accused of stealing other vehicles, setting other fires and damaging property.<\/p>\n

Closing arguments in the trial that began with jury selection Dec. 1 and testimony Dec. 6 are expected to be presented Monday after a lunch break.<\/p>\n

The prosecution rested its case Thursday. The trial took Friday off and the defense called Joseph Thornton, the private investigator, and Billie Jo Davis, the defendant\u2019s wife, before lunch Monday.<\/p>\n

Matthew Davis is not expected to take the stand in his own defense.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Daniel Lilley said in his opening statement that the state\u2019s case was circumstantial and that no blood or DNA from the victims was found on Davis or his clothes. He did not mention the difference in shoe size in his opening.<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019 alleged crime spree started before the slayings at Katahdin Forest Products Co., an Oakfield firm that makes log homes, Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said in his opening statement. A truck registered to the firm was found at Kitchen and Pratt\u2019s home up against the house and on fire.<\/p>\n

Maine State Police Cpl. Corey Hafford told the jury on Dec. 8 that he was called to Katahdin Forest Products while the firefighters were at the Kitchen\/Pratt home. Hafford said that a flatbed wrecker truck registered to Davis had been backed into a building at Katahdin Forest Products. Both the truck and the company\u2019s office had been set on fire.<\/p>\n

Yet another truck Davis allegedly drove from the homicide scene was found burning later at about 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2013, at a camp on Richardson Road in the neighboring town of Island Falls. Katie Cullen, assistant fire chief in Island Falls, testified Dec. 8 that when firefighters arrived she heard a popping sound that she recognized from training exercises as bullets exploding. Once the fire was out, bullets were recovered from the stolen truck.<\/p>\n

Dale White, the camp owner, testified that when he arrived on the scene, he found that his small barn had been broken into and two kayaks were missing. One he found overturned by the dock on Mattawamkeag Lake. The other one, a yellow kayak, was found across the lake on a camp owner\u2019s lawn, according to police.<\/p>\n

Police eventually tracked down Davis and arrested him<\/a> at about 10:45 a.m. Sept. 23, 2013, in another stolen vehicle on Beaver Dam Point Road in Island Falls, according to court documents. He has been held without bail since then.<\/p>\n

The bodies of Kitchen and Pratt were found<\/a> by Oakfield firefighters on opposite sides of the combined kitchen\/living room area, according to testimony. A semi-automatic rifle was found on Kitchen\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

Pratt died of a single gunshot wound to the neck<\/a>, Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, chief medical examiner, told jurors Dec. 7. She bled to death after a large-caliber bullet struck her carotid artery, he said.<\/p>\n

Kitchen was struck by a dozen bullets that caused multiple internal injuries and massive internal bleeding, the medical examiner testified. Eleven of the wounds were caused by medium-caliber bullets and the 12th wound by a large-caliber bullet similar to the one recovered from Pratt\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

William and Shannon Lloyd, who lived next door to the victims, testified Dec. 7 that they were awakened about 4 a.m. Sept. 23, 2013, by the sound of gunshots. Pratt was Shannon Lloyd\u2019s aunt.<\/p>\n

William Lloyd testified that he initially heard three or four shots, then, a few minutes later, heard an additional 10 to 12 shots rapidly fired.<\/p>\n

Both said they saw a man with dark hair in a buzz cut with wide eyes drive Kitchen\u2019s truck out of the couple\u2019s garage through the closed door but did not recognize him that morning. The next day, William Lloyd identified the man driving Kitchen\u2019s truck as Davis, he told the jury. William Lloyd said he saw a photo of Davis published on the Bangor Daily News\u2019 Facebook page and recognized him.<\/p>\n

The two men took a motorcycle class together about four years before the slayings, William Lloyd testified. He said that at that time, Davis had long hair, which he wore pulled back into a ponytail.<\/p>\n

Shannon Lloyd said she never was able to identify the man who fled the scene in Kitchen\u2019s pickup.<\/p>\n

Davis appears to have gained about 40 pounds since then and has grown a goatee. He has appeared in a suit, shirt and tie each day of the trial.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Davis faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the murder charges. Maine law allows life sentences when there are multiple victims.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source bangordailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judy Harrison Jen Lynds contributed to this report MACHIAS, Maine \u2014 A private investigator hired by the defense on Monday measured the feet of Matthew Davis, who is accused of slaying an Oakfield couple […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[2408,1664,2407],"class_list":{"0":"post-4322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-usa","9":"tag-killer","10":"tag-maine","11":"tag-matthew-davis","12":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4323,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322\/revisions\/4323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}