The first day of a trial for a Bangor man accused of killing his friend in 2024 included photos and virtual mapping of the crime scene.
Gary Brinson, 71, is accused of killing Lee Ruona, 64, on Dec. 4, 2024, at Brinson’s apartment on Union Street.
Eight witnesses testified throughout Tuesday, speaking about that day in 2024.
Brinson and Ruona are both military combat veterans with PTSD, Brinson told police. They lived in the same apartment building but in different units. The two were “drinking buddies,” Maine Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said in her opening statement.
Evidence in the trial showed that Brinson called police the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, saying “I got a dead guy laying on my bed,” according to the 911 dispatch call submitted as evidence. Brinson said he knew Ruona was dead because there was blood on his wall.
Brinson and Ruona split a gallon and a half of bourbon and several Pabst Blue Ribbon beers the night before Brinson called the police, Robbin said.
The first witness, Bangor Police Officer Jeffrey Kinney, responded to Brinson’s call and found him sitting in a chair “within an arm’s reach” of Ruona’s body, Kinney said.
“There’s blood everywhere in the apartment. On the floor, over on the bed, the bed sheets, the walls, and he was just sitting there watching TV like nothing was wrong,” Kinney said.
Kinney’s body camera footage showed that Brinson was holding a bottle of bourbon and had a box of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer near his feet when Kinney entered the apartment.
After he left his apartment, Brinson was brought to the Bangor Police Department, where he told Bangor officer Brian Higgins that he “was just trying to help” police by calling them and “should’ve just thrown the body in a dumpster” instead, Higgins said.
Before calling the police around 10 a.m., Brinson sent a Facebook message to his stepdaughter, Shannon Turner.
Turner said she received a message saying “I beat the s—t out of my Lee. Waiting on the police. I am sorry a side I thought I was over with is back” just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 4.
A detective with the Bangor Police Department, Joe Orcutt, and Anna Tart, the medical examiner at the time of Rouno’s death, said there were a large number of small puncture wounds that didn’t go past the skin level. There were more than 140 of those shallow wounds, mostly on his back, and more than five deeper wounds, Tart said.
“There were so many of them. They were everywhere,” Orcutt said.
Rouno also had a fractured spine and ribs, Tart said.
The cause of death was multiple sharp and blunt force injuries, Tart said.
Brinson’s attorney, Kaylee Folster, questioned Tart’s procedure and report because it didn’t include the undershirt and underwear Rouno was wearing. The clothing could’ve been examined to show if the wounds found on his back were made when he was wearing the shirt, Folster said.
Other evidence, including three pocket knives, Brinson’s cane that had blood on it and a virtual rendering of the crime scene were also presented.
The day was cut short, but Superior Court Justice Ann Murray said the case will wrap up this week.
“The evidence is going in a way that I think it will be done this week,” she said.
The trial will continue at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the Penobscot County Superior Court.
