AUGUSTA — Sentencing of New York man convicted last month of murdering an Augusta couple over a drug-related burglary is scheduled for Oct. 5 at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland.
David Marble Jr., 32, also known as “D-Money,” was convicted by a Cumberland County jury on July 19 of killing Eric Williams, 35, and Bonnie Royer, 26, on Christmas morning 2015 in Manchester.
While the sentencing is pending, Marble’s attorneys, Neale Duffett and Jon Gale, have asked the judge for a new trial, citing a number of issues in a motion filed in Cumberland County.
The motions will be dealt with in a hearing before sentencing. Most of the issues raised have been rejected at least once already, some of them in error, the defense attorneys say. The prosecution, which has yet to respond to the motion, is expected to support the prior rulings.
Prosecutors said the motive for the execution-style killings was the belief — which later proved accurate — that Williams had burglarized Marble’s apartment a few hours earlier while Marble was on a drug run to southern Maine.
Authorities said Williams bought drugs from Marble and also assisted him in dealing drugs.
Officials said there was a big demand for drugs on Christmas Eve, prompting Marble to make that run. While he was gone, Williams and several others stole televisions, drugs, a gun and several backpacks from Marble’s apartment.
So Marble arranged for Williams, who was with his girlfriend, Royer, to pick him up shortly after 3 a.m. Christmas Day and drive to the entrance of a gravel pit on Sanford Road, where he shot them, then got into another vehicle and fled.
The defense attorneys say the judge should have suppressed information about cell site location. Prosecutors cited evidence at trial that Marble’s cellphone, which he insisted to police that only he used, went from his Augusta apartment to the shooting site in the gravel pit and then back to Marble’s apartment.
The attorneys also say the judge’s instruction to jurors on accomplice liability was prejudicial “because there was no evidence that Marble ‘aided’ another in the shootings.”
They also say there was insufficient evidence to convict: “There was no fingerprint, DNA, tire track or footprint evidence implicating Marble,” the motion says.
They also say that testimony from one of the main witnesses, Timothy Bragg, who described what happened and who drove Marble from the scene, was unreliable. Bragg received immunity from prosecution for any crimes related to the murders. The defense attorneys also say other, nonprofessional witnesses were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony and all had convictions involving dishonesty or immorality.
The motion also says the state failed to investigate fully other people who were connected to Marble and/or the murders.
Marble’s case took on statewide prominence when he was among those referenced by Gov. Paul LePage in early 2016, with the governor saying drug dealers were coming to Maine with names such as “D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty” and “half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave.” D-Money, or Dee Money, is an alias of Marble’s, but the references to the alias were ordered removed from most court documents because his lawyers were concerned it could be inflammatory, given LePage’s use of the nickname.
Marble’s nickname on his Facebook page is “Dee Money,” and a post apparently by Marble shortly after the 2015 slayings, says, “This was a good Christmas after all everybody got to present this year and I was not in locked up.” Another of his posts, says, “Forgive me GOD FOR I HAVE SIN. Spiritus Sancti.”
One of the prosecutors, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese said after the trial that the state would seek a life sentence for Marble on each count.
Prosecutors said Marble was in the backseat of Williams’ Chevrolet Trailblazer when he shot both Williams and Royer. Williams was hit once in the head and Royer twice, once in the head and once in the neck. She managed to call E911 on a cellphone, but both people were dead when police arrived.
The Kennebec Journal’s request for autopsy reports on both Williams and Royer, initially made in Jan. 13, 2016, was denied at the time on the basis of the pending investigation and prosecution.
The request was renewed after Marble’s conviction; however, Mark Belserene, administrator of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, indicated by letter on Monday that neither was available to the public.
He wrote that Bonnie Royer’s next of kin, her brother Paul Royer, “declined permission to release the report, citing privacy concerns of Bonnie’s immediately family, including her children.”
Belserene said he could release only public information that placed the day and time of death on Dec. 25, 2015, at 3:34 a.m., and that the cause of death was gunshot wounds, and the manner was homicide.
Williams’ next of kin, his mother, Susan Williams, likewise “declined permission to release the report, citing privacy concerns of Eric’s immediate family,” Belserene wrote.
The public information listed says Williams died Dec. 25, 2015, at 3:34 a.m. of “gunshot wound of the head” and it was a homicide.
In response, the Kennebec Journal requested a redacted copy of both reports that would eliminate the privacy concerns.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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