Mary Ames
intended to kill bartender Christopher Hall when she stabbed him at Doran’s bar and so is
guilty of murder, a three-judge panel ruled Wednesday.
[...]
When Ames is sentenced April 26, she
faces a term ranging from 25 years to life in prison. Blue maintained her bond at $1 million.
The judges also concluded in their five-page decision the evidence did not support the defense team’s claim of Ames acting under extreme emotional disturbance.
“While the evidence suggests that there was indeed stress in her personal life,” the judges wrote, “we cannot find that her quarrel with Hall and her eventual killing of him, was a reaction to that stress.”
“Hall had nothing to do with that personal stress,” they added.
“The killing was, rather, the result of a barroom brawl which the defendant herself had initiated.”
Ames testified during the trial that she argued with Hall at the North Haven bar in May 2010 becaus
e he refused to honor a wager that the losing pool players would buy the winners a drink.
She said when she tried to pour a tequila for her son, Michael Ames, who had been on the winning team, Hall grabbed her by the throat. She then reached for a pocketknife in her pocketbook because she felt “trapped” and feared for her life.
The panel of judges rejected Ames’ claim she was justified in using physical force agaisnt Hall. They said the evidence showed
she pursued Hall into the barroom, threatened him and lunged at him.
The judges cited evidence
Ames inflicted several wounds on Hall, some of them -- on his hands and wrist -- which were defensive. The fatal wound was a stab to the heart.
“The nature of these wounds convince us that Mary Ames had the specific intent to kill Hall when she inflicted the fatal blow,” the judges wrote.
Defense attorneys Beth A. Merkin and Omar Williams had hired a professor of psychiatry, Dr. Catherine Lewis, who after interviewing Ames and studying her history concluded she has post traumatic stress disorder.
Lewis testified Ames’ claims that she was raped twice, the first time at age 11, were corroborated by her friends.
But in his closing argument Wednesday morning, Pepper said Ames used the PTSD claim “as an excuse for a criminal charge.”
“Mary Ames tells stories about being raped once, twice, three, four times,” Pepper said, citing statements by others who knew her. He maintained she also gave an inaccurate account of what happened in the bar that night.
Ames, 49, of North Haven, showed no emotion when Blue read the judges’ decisions. Seven of Hall’s family members and supporters were also subdued as they sat in the courtroom.
[...]
Michael Ames is charged with first-degree hindering prosecution for allegedly helping his mother flee the bar. Witnesses said he drove the family car and she was a passenger. They went back to their home on Oakwood Drive, where police questioned them a few hours later.
Ames admitted that night stabbing Hall but reportedly was shocked when police told her he was dead. She denied trying to rob the cash register.
In their ruling, the judges rejected the state’s attempted robbery contention because this was based on testimony by just one witness that he saw Ames’ hand in the open cash register drawer.
The judges cited evidence the drawer was often left open “and there is no evidence that the defendant intended to take the bar’s money. Indeed, she actually left some of her own money on the bar.”
During his closing argument, Pepper said of Hall, “His hands were never around her neck.”
“If he had put his hands around her as she said,” Pepper asserted, “he would have snapped her like a twig.”
Reply With Quote
1 Member(s) thanked for this post
Bookmarks