A judge will decide if statements from a man accused of killing his best friend will be allowed at a jury trial in two weeks.
Gary Brinson is accused of killing Lee Ruona, 64, on Dec. 4, 2024, at Brinson’s apartment on Union Street. A jury trial is scheduled to start Feb. 23.
Brinson’s attorneys want a judge to not allow statements the 71-year-old made to police during three interviews on Dec. 4 and 5, 2024. They argued that Brinson made some statements to police while “very intoxicated” and that police failed to provide timely warnings that Brinson didn’t need to talk to them.
He was not in police custody, which meant police didn’t need to tell Brinson he didn’t have to answer questions, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said.
Brinson called police at 9:57 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024, to report Ruona’s death. That day, police asked Brinson if he killed Ruona, to which he responded, “Why would I kill my best-friend,” according to the affidavit.
Brinson and Ruona are both military combat veterans with PTSD, Brinson told police. They lived in the same apartment building but in different units. Ruona would come over to Brinson’s apartment and the two would drink alcohol and watch TV, he said.
On Dec. 3, the two of them drank a total of roughly one and a half gallons of alcohol and 26 beers while watching TV until around 9 p.m.
Brinson was drinking liquor when police arrived that day and told Bangor Detective Thomas Valente that he had drunk a lot, Valente testified Friday. Valente said he himself would have been well over the legal limit of .08% with the amount of alcohol Brinson consumed.
Brinson could not go back to his apartment that first day and there were no family or friends who could take him in, Valente said. Because of Brinson’s age and it being December, Bangor police paid for a hotel room for Brinson.
“You’re more than welcome, I don’t turn my back on the police,” Brinson told police when they asked if they could come interview him at the hotel.
Valente and another detective came to Brinson’s hotel room twice that next day to talk to him. The warnings of “you don’t have to talk to us” came from police in the middle to end of interviews, instead of the beginning where it belonged, defense attorney Kaylee Folster said.
Brinson was essentially in police custody when he was in the hotel because “he was dependent on police at this point for survival,” Folster said.
Valente said Brinson did not have to let police in — even though they were paying for the room — because “it was his hotel room.”
During the three interviews, Brinson said statements along the lines of “They’ve got me, I’ve done it, I’m going to jail,” at least three or four times, Valente said.
Each time Valente said he responded that Brinson wasn’t going to jail.
Folster said she expects a decision from the judge by the start of jury selection on Feb. 20.
