BANGOR (AP) — Jurors can convict two men of killing three people and burning their bodies in a Bangor parking lot even if they are not unanimous in their personal theories about exactly what happened that night, a prosecutor told the jury Tuesday.
But lawyers for Randall Daluz and Nicholas Sexton told jurors there were too few facts to support convictions, with one of them accusing the prosecutor of taking “poetic license” with the facts and the other accusing the state of using “guilt by association.”
After closing arguments, jurors retired from the courtroom briefly before asking to go home for the evening.
Prosecutors say the killings stemmed from a drug dispute. The three bodies, all burned beyond recognition, were discovered in a burning car in a Bangor parking lot in 2012. The victims were Nicolle Lugdon, 24, of Eddington; Daniel Borders, 26, of Hermon; and Lucas Tuscano, 28, of Bradford.
Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said the fire set by the men destroyed key physical evidence and that the killings eliminated any witnesses. But she said there was still plenty evidence to show that Daluz, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and Sexton, of Warwick, Rhode Island, worked in concert on the night of the crimes.
Hunter Tzovarras, the attorney for Daluz, said evidence pointed toward a conflict between Sexton and Borders, and that there was no proof that Daluz was present in the car when the victims were killed.
Sexton’s lawyer, Jeffrey Toothaker, accused the prosecutor of taking “poetic license” by suggesting Sexton was angry with Borders over a drug deal, and blamed Daluz for killing all three victims.
In his testimony Monday, Sexton told jurors that Daluz killed the others and in doing so shot out the rear window of a rental car as they were traveling down a road. Daluz chose not to testify, telling the judge while the jurors were not in the courtroom Tuesday that he didn’t want to appear “desperate.”
Daluz and Sexton are charged with three counts of murder and one count of starting a fire. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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