AUGUSTA — Two more men are scheduled to be sentenced Monday in the Nov. 23, 2015, drug-related bludgeoning death of Joseph Marceau, 31, of Augusta.
The hearing is set for 1 p.m. at the Capital Judicial Center.
Damik “Doughboy” Davis, 28, of Queens, New York, and Michael “Dirty” Sean McQuade, 47, of Augusta, had pleaded guilty 11 months ago to felony murder and robbery in the Augusta killing and signed agreements with the state that spelled out their sentencing parameters.
The agreements said they would cooperate with the state with regard to prosecution of others in the case.
A third man, Aubrey Armstrong, 29, of Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, who was convicted of those two charges after a non-jury trial, was sentenced on July 13, 2018, to 30 years in prison for felony murder and a concurrent 29 years for the robbery. At that time, a friend of Marceau’s family told Armstrong to “rot in hell” for the killing.
Under Maine law, a person is guilty of felony murder if acting alone or with others persons, commits or attempts to commit a felony — murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, gross sexual assault, or escape — and this causes the death of another person.
Armstrong was found not guilty of murder after Justice Daniel Billings said there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Armstrong personally of carrying out the murder.
It is not clear who administered the fatal blows to 31-year-old Marceau in the trash-strewn, fourth-floor apartment on Washington Street from which McQuade and his girlfriend Zina Fritze— who committed suicide in jail a day after pleading not guilty to the murder indictment — had been evicted.
Michael Sean McQuade, left, confers with his attorney, Andrew Wright, on Aug. 22, 2017, while entering a plea of guilty to felony murder and robbery at Lincoln County Superior Court in Wiscasset. McQuade admitted his role in the death of Joseph Marceau on Nov. 23, 2015, in Augusta.
Davis and McQuade blamed Armstrong, known in the Augusta area as “Butter,” and is known as “Acon” in New York, as the one who administered the fatal beating. Armstrong did not testify at his trial and said nothing to the judge at his sentencing hearing.
Billings unsealed the two cooperation agreements Friday. The agreements, signed Aug. 22, 2017, by Davis and McQuade and their respective attorneys, say that the charges of murder against Davis and McQuade will be dismissed when they are sentenced on the felony murder and robbery charges.
The cooperation agreements say, “The defendant shall NOT (with “not” capitalized and in bold) be protected from any charge of perjury or false statement.”
A number of other witnesses at Armstrong’s trial were given immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony.
Davis agreed to a sentence of 30 years — the first 20 to be served initially behind bars and the next 10 suspended while he spends four years on probation. He was not called to testify at Armstrong’s trial.
McQuade, who testified at Armstrong’s trial and said he saw Armstrong beat Marceau to death, agreed to a sentence of 25 years — the first 10 to 15 to be served initially behind bars and the remainder suspended while he spends four years on probation. McQuade’s attorney, Andrew Wright, is expected to argue at the hearing for the lesser period of incarceration.
McQuade also is to be sentenced on a series of burglary, theft and burglary of a motor vehicle charges to which he previously pleaded no contest. They occurred in October-November 2015 prior to the killing of Marceau.
McQuade testified at Armstrong’s trial that he would steal items to sell or trade for drugs.
McQuade testified that Armstrong wanted to rob Marceau of 5 grams of heroin he had been trying to market for several days and that McQuade and Fritze accompanied Davis, Armstrong and Marceau to the apartment.
He said he saw Marceau standing with his back to the entry door and Armstrong and Davis facing him.
“Immediately a milk bottle came smashing down across Joe’s head,” McQuade testified. “It was like a nanosecond, then Doughboy came smashing down with a chair across his head.”
McQuade said within the first 10 seconds Marceau hollered for them to “just take it,” meaning the drugs, but the beating didn’t stop.
Photos of Marceau’s body shown in court reflected three patterns of a property or grade stake that McQuade said Armstrong used to beat Marceau.
Marceau was found hog-tied in a bedroom by Augusta police responding to a noise complaint by neighbors in the apartment below.
The judge did not believe all of McQuade’s testimony.
In rendering the Armstrong verdict, Billings said, “Ultimately the court is not able to rely upon Mr. McQuade’s testimony to reach a conclusion that the state has met its burden to prove the charge of murder beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Billings said that McQuade’s testimony and statements about the crime appeared to minimize his own involvement in the events. Billings also noted that McQuade “was a heroin addict seeking drugs that day.”
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story