FARMINGTON – A Jay man was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend with a softball bat Friday morning in Franklin County Superior Court.
Justice William Stokes said that he was unpersuaded by testimony and evidence admitted during the four-and-a-half day trial that James “Ted” Sweeney, 58 of Jay, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct when he struck Wendy Douglass, 51 of Jay, three times in the head and face with a wooden softball bat in the early morning hours of July 11, 2017. Furthermore, Stokes indicated that the state had proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Sweeney had knowingly caused Douglass’ death. As a result, at the conclusion of a 21-page verdict that Stokes read to the court, Sweeney was found guilty of murder.
In Maine, a murder charge carries a minimum prison sentence of 25 years and a maximum sentence of life. Sentencing has been set for an April 10 hearing. Sweeney, who has been held without bail since July 12, 2017, will remain in custody while awaiting sentencing.
Stokes’ verdict went step by step through the commonly accepted sequence of events that two dozen witnesses had described during last month’s trial. The judge would pause periodically to allow the American Sign Language interpreters to translate his ruling for Sweeney, who is deaf.
Sweeney and Douglass had been in a roughly 10-year relationship that had ended at some point in mid- to late-July 2017, although Sweeney had been permitted to continue living at Douglass’ residence at 5 Jewell Street in Jay. While things had generally been good over that 10-year period, Stokes noted Friday, the final year-plus of the relationship had been marked by jealousy and suspicion on the part of Sweeney toward Douglass. That jealousy – unfounded according to all witness testimony – had become so “obsessive and extreme,” as Stokes put it, that the defendant had apparently installed a game camera to spy on the home’s comings and goings, wore disguises and borrowed vehicles to follow Douglass and would talk of little else to some family members.
In March 2017, Douglass awoke to find Sweeney in her bedroom with a gun. While there was a factual dispute as to whether Sweeney had either threatened Douglass or to kill himself, Stokes said, it pointed to a level of desperation and panic on the part of Sweeney towards the relationship. Sweeney was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital following that event but was not hospitalized. There was no evidence that the incident had been the result of a psychotic episode, Stokes said.
On the evening of July 10, 2017, Douglass and one of her co-workers at Food City in Livermore Falls had dinner with Sweeney – the co-worker described Sweeney as “pretty quiet” – ending approximately at 7 p.m. Later that evening, Sweeney texted his son and asked to be driven to Cumberland Farms to buy cigarettes, as he had been drinking and didn’t want to drive. His son dropped him back off at the Jewell Street residence. He did not see Douglass at that time, but he did observe her van out front.
There was no direct evidence as to the specific events of the evening of July 10 or the morning of July 11, 2017, Stokes said, but Sweeney did relate essentially the same story to two doctors: Dr. Robert Pollard and Dr. Robert Riley for the defense and prosecution, respectively. Sweeney said that after returning from having a smoke outside, he saw Douglass’ cellphone with a text message that said ‘gone.’ He “panicked” as a result of the message, retrieving the softball bat from the hallway at around 4:30 a.m. Sweeney told the doctors that he reasoned that hurting Douglass would “stall” any relationship she might be in, and would force the state to take his request for mental health help more seriously.
After pacing with the bat for roughly an hour, Sweeney said that went into Douglass’ bedroom, shouted “you lie to me” and then struck her three times with the bat. From there, he returned the bat to the hallway, taped a note to Douglass’ bedroom door, emailed the pastor of the church he and Douglass attended and texted his sons. He then went to Androscoggin County Jail, where he informed a corrections officer that someone needed to check on his girlfriend at 5 Jewell Street because he had hurt her. ‘I did wrong’ that note concluded.
Pollard testified that Sweeney had schizophrenia and had suffered a command hallucination that had instructed him that it was alright to hurt Douglass. Pollard also said that Sweeney’s obsessive jealousy was a psychotic delusion, not based on reality.
Riley said that while Sweeney had high anxiety, desperation and possibly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he was not schizophrenic and had not had a psychotic break with reality. He was also skeptical that Sweeney’s jealousy rose to the level of delusion.
In his decision, Stokes noted that Sweeney had not contested that he had caused the death of Douglass. The state was required to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that he “intentionally or knowingly” caused her death. While Stokes said that he had reasonable doubt that it was Sweeney’s “conscious object” to kill Douglass – speaking toward the intentional component – he had no similar doubt that the defendant knowingly caused the victim’s death.
“The court finds beyond all reasonable doubt that at the time he struck Wendy Douglass in the head multiple times with the bat,” Stokes said, “he was aware that it was practically certain his actions would cause her death.”
Through his attorneys, Sweeney had pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. An affirmative defense, the insanity plea requires that the defendant prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he lacks “substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the criminal conduct.” In his verdict, Stokes said that he wasn’t persuaded that Sweeney was in the “throes of psychosis” when he attacked Douglass, despite a level of jealousy that was “clearly irrational.”
“… [T]he court believe that the Defendant’s anger, frustration and depression, as he watched his relationship with Wendy [Douglass] crumble, was the motivating factor in his decision to hurt her,” Stokes said.
Stokes also referenced a lack of evidence regarding the existence of a command hallucination – described as a horn sound to Pollard – in the attack. Sweeney had been nearly 57 when the attack occurred, Stokes said, and it was “implausible” that his alleged schizophrenia had been hidden his entire adult life.
As a result, Stokes said, he found Sweeney guilty of murder.
Upon consulting with attorneys, ASL interpreters and members of Douglass’ family, Stokes set sentencing for April 10 in Farmington. Assistant Attorney General Meg Elam and AAG Leane Zainea will continue to represent the state, while attorneys Thomas Carey and Walter Hanstein will continue to represent Sweeney.
[Editor’s Note: Walter Hanstein is related to the author.]
