AUGUSTA — Testimony on the third day of Roland L. Cummings’ trial on a charge of murdering 92-year-old Aurele Fecteau focused on Cummings’ actions May 20-22, 2014, around the time of the slaying.
Jurors on Monday watched short videos of Cummings purchasing items at the prescription pickup counter at CVS and at the counter of Scotty’s Pizza, both in Waterville, around the time the state says he stabbed Fecteau to death in his bed.
The surveillance videos — all silent — were shown on the morning of the third day of Cummings’ murder trial at the Capital Judicial Center. About 20 spectators attended the trial on Monday.
In the clips, Cummings is wearing a soft, white fisherman’s style hat, something that stood out in the mind of Deanna St. Pierre, store manager at CVS.
As the videos played, Cummings leaned over and spoke to his attorneys. Generally he sits silently at the defense team’s table and watches jurors.
A series of clips from surveillance cameras at the Waterville Wal-Mart on May 22, 2014, showed the same man wearing the same hat walking along several aisles, at one point briefly carrying a box.
Store officials testified a pair of old boots had been swapped for the new ones, and the box was left in the infant section of the store.
A woman who had been with Cummings on the trip to the store said Cummings “traded them out,” exchanging his worn boots for new ones.
Cummings, 46, of Waterville, is accused of murdering Fecteau on or about May 20, 2014, burglarizing his home and stealing two rings, one of them an anniversary ring marking 30 years of service at Scott Paper in Winslow, the other a sapphire ring inherited by Aurele Fecteau from his father, Gideon.
Fecteau’s body was discovered by his eldest son, Ernest Fecteau, on May 23, 2014, when he went to check on him after the older man did not answer his phone at his 33 Brooklyn Ave. home in Waterville.
Prosecutors say Cummings’ DNA was found on the turned out pockets of three pairs of Aurele Fecteau’s pants that were found in a pile next to his bed.
Photos of the scene showed jurors Fecteau’s body, which the medical examiner said bore evidence of 16 stab wounds, covered in a white blanket and laying across the bed at an angle.
Cummings previously told police he rifled through Fecteau’s pockets to look for cash when he was at the house on a previous occasion.
Jurors were in the courtroom for less than an hour Monday morning before the judge ordered a recess so attorneys could be located to advise three witnesses who were expected to have self-incrimination problems if they testified.
The three included a former girlfriend of Cummings, the woman he was staying with in Skowhegan when police questioned him the day after Aurele Fecteau’s body was found, and Duane Sawyer.
Justice Michaela Murphy said she had arranged for the three to speak to separate attorneys prior to being called as witnesses.
One of the prosecutors, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, told the judge the state was prepared to offer immunity to the individuals so they could testify without fear of facing prosecution for any alleged illegal activities.
Jillian Bryant, one of those who received immunity, testified she lived with Cummings both at David Fecteau’s home and later at her mother’s home until May 10, 2014.
Bryant said her relationship with Cummings ended “because he wasn’t paying rent and we weren’t getting along.”
She said she gave Cummings a ride to Hinckley on May 21, 2014, since he was traveling to Skowhegan. She said at the time she sold two, 2-milligram Suboxones to him for $10 and met him later that same night to sell him 11 Focalin pills, her medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for $100. She said he paid her with a $100 bill.
Bryant also said she knew Aurele Fecteau and knew that Cummings had done some work around the older man’s home a few times.
In response to a question from one of Cummings’ defense attorneys, Darrick Banda, about whether she ever heard another Fecteau, David, say he’d like to kill his father, Bryant said, “When he was mad, he’d say something along those lines.”
When Zainea followed up on that, Bryant said she did not take the remark seriously.
“People say things when they’re mad, and I would not think that,” Bryant said.
She also said she had problems recalling certain dates and had been a drug addict at the time.
On Friday, David Fecteau, 49, of Benton, repeatedly denied killing his father when the prosecutor questioned him on the witness stand.
On Monday afternoon, Jeffrey Pomelow of Solon, who owns several businesses there, including Top Dollar Coin & Currency, testified he bought two rings from Angela Hannah Mae Mantha of Skowhegan, a former tenant, in a transaction that occurred after 6 p.m. on May 21, 2014.
Mantha identified the two rings she sold as those contained in a plastic bag.
She too said she had a “very spotty” memory of the week of May 19, 2014, because of her drug habit and because it was a year and a half ago.
She testified that Cummings had a tube sock full of half-dollar coins, plus some dollar coins, and used the money to pay her landlord.
On Friday, Ann Bucknam, one of Aurele Fecteau’s daughters, testified that when she walked through her father’s home with police, she noticed that a tube of half-dollar coins was missing from her father’s bedroom.
On Monday afternoon, the judge told Duane Sawyer the state no longer intended to call him as a witness. She also told him he was under subpoena to testify for the defense, but that did not carry any offer of immunity from the state.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @betadams
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