By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Shaun Tuttle and David Lakin agreed on one key point in their testimony Thursday.

Both say one of them is blameless in the killing of 81-year-old James McManus of Lewiston last March.

Tuttle, 22, of 35 Wood St. in Lewiston, wrapped up his testimony in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Thursday, saying that he was passed out while Lakin, 23, of 164 Bartlett St., killed McManus on a dirt road in Turner.

Then it was Lakin’s turn. He swore that he awoke from a drunken stupor to find Tuttle strangling McManus by the side of the road. And both men blame the other for driving over McManus’ body, crushing his head.

Both brought witnesses to back up their story. George Proctor, 59, of Poland told the jury that Tuttle confessed to the crime while they were incarcerated at Androscoggin County Jail. Later, Richard Kendall, 38, of Lewiston, took the stand to say that Lakin had confessed to him while in Androscoggin County Jail.

State prosecutor Lisa Marchese pointed out that the similarities were glaring during her cross-examination of Lakin. Lakin testified the pair left the scene of the crime in Turner with McManus in the trunk of the car, stopping briefly to smoke some marijuana.

“Is that when you decided that if you got caught you’d both say the same thing?” Marchese said. “Is that when you decided you’d both claim to be passed out in the back?”

“No. He stole my story,” Lakin replied.

The state alleges the two men took McManus from his Blake Street apartment on March 9, 2004, then drove him to Pleasant Pond Road in North Turner.

Once there, the two men allegedly used McManus’ car, a Buick Century, to run over him early the next morning.

The elderly man’s body was discovered March 10, 2004, in the trunk of his car parked on Horton Street in Lewiston.

Video

The jury began the day watching a videotape from March 11, 2004, of Tuttle being interviewed by state police. On the tape, Tuttle said Lakin planned to kill McManus before the two went into his apartment.

In court, Tuttle denied that. He said he was coerced into saying that by insistent police.

“I felt that there was things they wanted me to say,” he said. “They said there were holes that I needed to fill, and that’s what I did.”

Tuttle claims that he spent the day drinking, meeting up with Lakin outside Pub 33 on Sabattus Street in Lewiston. The two had never met before, Tuttle testified, but agreed to go to an after-hours party together. Tuttle testified that the two walked to McManus’ apartment in search of a car.

Tuttle said McManus initially refused to give Lakin his keys, but finally relented and agreed to accompany the two. In the meantime, Tuttle said he passed out on McManus’ bed and threw up on it.

When they left, McManus took the front passenger seat while Tuttle passed out in the back. He didn’t awake, he testified, until the car stopped on a dirt road.

Tuttle testified that was where Lakin pulled McManus from the car. He said he heard a sound “like someone being whipped and strangled” before Lakin got back in the driver’s seat. Lakin drove down the road, turned the car around, and ran McManus down.

Lakin testifies

Lakin’s testimony was the mirror-image of Tuttle’s. Lakin said Tuttle invited him to go drinking at Tuttle’s place, but Lakin declined, saying he knew of a closer place. The pair went to McManus’ apartment, were invited in and spent the rest of the evening drinking shots of McManus’ vodka.

When Tuttle vomited on McManus’ bed, the three decided to leave together to get some fresh air. Lakin said he drove the car from Blake Street to the rest area off of Route 4 by Lake Auburn. Tuttle took over driving and Lakin passed out in the back, he said.

When he awoke, the car was parked on a dirt road in the woods. He looked out of the window and saw Tuttle choking McManus.

“Then he got up and walked back to the car and said it was too late,” Lakin said.

“Didn’t you jump out of the car and say `What the hell are you doing?'” Marchese asked.

Lakin responded that there wasn’t time. Tuttle got back in the car and drove off, pinning McManus in his headlights before driving over him.

“So you just sat there while he drove over your good friend, who had just shared all of his vodka with you?” Marchese said. “You just sat there and let him run your good friend Jim over?”

“I didn’t know what I could do,” Lakin said.

Lakin said he did run to McManus’ body when the car stopped to check his pulse, getting McManus’ blood on his clothes. Then Tuttle stuffed McManus in the car’s trunk by himself, Lakin said.

The pair left Turner, but not before driving around lost for a while and stopping to smoke marijuana.

“I kept saying You ruined my life. You ruined my life,'” Lakin said. “He said not to worry, that he’d tell police the truth and that I had nothing to do with it.”

Lakin said that’s why he didn’t call police when he got back to Lewiston and why he didn’t tell police the truth when they first contacted him.

“I was scared,” Lakin said. “I didn’t know what was happening.”

Testimony continues today, with Tuttle’s defense expected to call three more witnesses.

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