Was William Sullivan a love-struck, deprived young man, plagued by mental illness that caused him to react with fatal violence to a split-second moment of anger?
Or was he a cold, calculating killer who plotted the murder of his girlfriend's mother and carried it out -- after a few failed attempts -- with two baseball bats and three knives?
Lawyers presented these two views of Sullivan Tuesday during closing arguments in his murder trial at Hillsborough County Superior Court.
A 12-person jury now must decide if Sullivan, 20, of Willimantic, is guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Aug. 6, 2003, slaying of Jeanne Dominico in her Nashua home.
Kasinskas has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for testifying against Sullivan. Defense attorney Paul Garrity Tuesday urged the jury to find that Sullivan was not guilty by reason of insanity.
Garrity reminded the jury about testimony during the three-week trial on Sullivan's pediatric mental health history. He was admitted to hospitals and given drugs to treat his mental problems, Garrity said.
``This is not just an ill boy. This is a seriously disturbed boy,'' he said.
But prosecutor Will Delker said that the planning that went on before the homicide contradicts the defense claim that Sullivan was insane.
``The defendant, William Sullivan Jr., purposefully killed Jeanne Dominico because she stood in the way of his relationship with 16-year-old Nicole Kasinskas,'' Delker said.
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