ALFRED ”“ The jury must decide whether Derek Poulin was a cold-blooded killer who stabbed his grandmother to death and set fire to her house, or a young man still finding his way who has been wrongly accused of a crime.

Poulin has been charged with arson and intentional, knowing or depraved indifference murder and is accused of stabbing his grandmother, Patricia Noel, to death in her Old Orchard Beach home in 2012, and then setting the house on fire. Noel was found dead by fire fighters who responded to the fire Oct. 23, 2012. Poulin and his father lived in the house but were not home when firefighters arrived on the scene.

Poulin’s trial began Thursday morning with opening statements from the prosecution and defense.

Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea held up a picture and said to jurors, “This is Patricia Noel.” She said Noel had a fractured skull and lacerations on her neck, arms and legs.

“In total she was stabbed more than 70 times,” said Zainea. She held up a knife wrapped in an evidence box. “Patty Noel was stabbed with this knife. … She was stabbed so many times that the blade of the knife is bent.”

Zainea said Noel was also beaten with a golf club so badly that the handle broke off. Dents in her skull matched the size and shape of a wrench she was also beaten with, said Zainea.

A fire at Noel’s house was reported by a neighbor, and firefighters had to break into the house because the doors were locked with deadbolts, which could only be locked from the outside, said Zainea.

Noel was found dead, lying in a bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. The medical examiner did not find any soot in her trachea, and her cause of death was not the fire, said Zainea. “Patty was dead before that fire started,” she said. “Patricia Noel had been murdered.”

The only thing of value taken from the home was an envelope of money from Noel’s purse, said Zainea.

Her son and Derek Poulin’s father, Reggie Poulin, was working that day at his job with a landscaping company.

Derek Poulin, who was unemployed, told police he had gone to Portland to get his teeth fixed, visit his mother and go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Derek Poulin told police he had gone to the BMV around noon, but he was caught on video arriving there at 2:15 p.m., and in addition to his service ticket, he picked up a ticket that had been issued to someone else just before noon, said Zainea.

Derek Poulin told police he had gone to a dental clinic just after 1 p.m. Poulin went to the clinic to give a down payment for some future work and to make an appointment for a future date, said Zainea. The appointment was entered into the computer right after Poulin left, around 4:22 p.m., said Zainea.

When Reggie Poulin returned home from work and was told by investigators what happened to his mother, he became distraught and fell to his knees, said Zainea. “He was visibly shaken,” she said.

Derek Poulin was notified, and the trip home from Portland took him an hour and 10 minutes, which included a stop at Catholic Charities thrift store to purchase an item of clothing, said Zainea.

Derek Poulin told police he had been wearing the same clothes all day, but came home wearing different clothes than pictured in the BMV video. Zainea said a reddish-brown stain on Poulin’s boots came back positive for blood, and Noel’s DNA was found on them.

Zainea told the jury to use “common sense and reason,” and that Derek Poulin tried to create an alibi and lied to police and changed the clothing he was wearing the day he killed his grandmother.

Derek Poulin’s attorney, Amy Fairfield, said Derek Poulin was a caring brother to his siblings, and kind, gentle and patient with his autistic younger brother.

Fairfield described Derek Poulin as a young man “trying to find his way in life.” Though he smoked a lot of pot, he was diligently looking for a job, said Fairfield.

Fairfield said the government’s investigation was not as thorough as it should have been and only focused on Derek Poulin. “He stands before you presumed innocent,” she told the jury. “He has a clean slate.”

Fairfield said Derek Poulin had called his mother the night before and had made plans to go to Portland to visit her, go to the dentist and go to the BMV, and she was going to make his favorite dinner ”“ chop suey.

Fairfield said when Derek Poulin received the news of his grandmother’s death, it took a while to calm him down and he was visibly shaken. Fairfield said Derek Poulin’s mother was worried about him driving back to Old Orchard Beach, but knew it was important for him to be with his father. Derek Poulin’s mother stayed home to take care of her children, she said.

Fairfield said on his way home, Derek Poulin stopped by Union Plaza, where the Catholic Charities thrift store was located, to visit his step-father, who owns the music store Buckdancer’s Choice located in the plaza. Derek Poulin’s step-father was like a second father to him, said Fairfield.

When Derek Poulin arrived in Old Orchard Beach, he and Reggie Poulin embraced for a long time, said Fairfield.

Fairfield said that a distraught Derek Poulin said, “I never told her I loved her when I left,” and speaks of his grandmother in the present tense, as if she wasn’t gone.

Fairfield said Derek Poulin’s car, a cherry-red BMW with a light-colored interior had no sign of blood. The DNA found on his boots could have come from sources other than blood, and it would not have been usual as he lived with his grandmother for a year.

Fairfield told the jury that given the facts, it will conclude “the police and government should be out there looking for the real killer.”

“We’re here to find justice and we need to find Derek Poulin not guilty,” said Fairfield.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.