FARMINGTON — Testimony on day two of the murder trial of James “Ted” Sweeney on Tuesday focused on his jealous behavior in the months leading up to the death of his former longtime girlfriend at the home they shared in Jay.
Sweeney, 58, is accused of killing Wendy Douglass, 51, with a softball bat while she slept at her home at 5 Jewell St. on July 11, 2017. He has pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of insanity and waived a jury trial.
Sweeney went to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn the morning of the killing to ask that police check on Douglass.
In testimony Tuesday before Justice William Stokes in Franklin County Superior Court, family members testified that Sweeney used their vehicles to follow Douglass to try to see who she was seeing. Once he was seen in a parking lot wearing a hat, which was not normal for him, his daughter-in-law Michelle Libby said. She wiped away tears when she said Douglass was like a mother to her.
Witnesses said they tried to tell Sweeney that Douglass was not cheating on him, but he did not believe them.
Douglass, who was produce manager at the Food City in Livermore Falls, was described by witnesses as a wonderful, caring person and a dedicated member of the church she attended in Readfield.
Richard Hoyt, assistant manager at Food City, testified that he knew the couple. He said Sweeney visited Douglass at the store frequently. Sometimes they argued, he said.
Douglass at times told Sweeney to leave because she was working, but Sweeney would come back with coffee or flowers or other items, Hoyt said.
When the couple was fighting, Hoyt said, he asked Douglass if she wanted him to walk her to her car, but she always said she was fine.
Also taking the witness stand Tuesday were investigators who found Douglass’s body.
A body-cam video by Jay police officer Dylan Rider showed police entering the house by breaking a window. They checked the first floor and opened the door to a room that had cloth lying at the bottom blocking air flow, Rider testified.
When police opened the door and shined a flashlight on the bed, they found Douglass’s body.
Maine State Police Detective Lauren Edstrom said she and other evidence technicians found Douglass was on her back in a twin bed with a lot of thick black fluid around her face. She was covered up to her neck with a blanket and there was a lot of what appeared to be dried blood on her face.
An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to a state police affidavit.
A black, wooden bat, believed to be the murder weapon, was found in the corner in a small bucket in the house near the front door behind what Assistant Attorney General Meg Elam said was a draft-stopper.
Edstrom testified there was red-brown staining on the bat.
Sweeney, who is deaf, had passed a note to a corrections officer at the Auburn jail the morning of the killing asking that Douglass be checked because he “hurt” her.
The trial will continue Wednesday, weather permitting.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
Co-defense attorney Walter Hanstein, standing, consults with Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, right, Tuesday during the murder trial of James “Ted” Sweeney, left, formerly of Jay. Co-defense attorney Thomas J. Carey is also seated at the table. (Sun Journal photo by Donna M. Perry)
James “Ted” Sweeney, formerly of Jay, second from left, watches as his defense attorneys, Walter Hanstein, second from right, and Thomas J. Carey, right, talk during a break in Sweeney’s murder trial Tuesday at Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington. Franklin County jail transport officer Cpl. Phillip Richards stands behind Sweeney. (Sun Journal photo By Donna M. Perry)
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