Trial under way in slaying of Peabody dad

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February 3, 2012

By Julie Manganis Staff writer The Salem News Fri Feb 03, 2012, 04:45 AM EST

PEABODY — Prosecutors say it was a prolonged and bloody beating with a piece of wood by a man who had already gotten the better of his opponent, a case of first-degree murder with both premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty.

But Fernando Aristy's lawyer yesterday suggested to jurors that what happened to Chad McDonald outside a Lynn warehouse in October 2010 wasn't murder at all, simply a case of self-defense and, at worst, manslaughter by a man who believed he was about to be killed or maimed.

The trial of Aristy, 25, of Chelsea, in the death of McDonald, 34, of Peabody, got under way yesterday in Salem Superior Court with dramatic opening statements from both sides.

Prosecutor Maureen Wilson-Leal told jurors that when McDonald's friend Kellie Boyd found him 12 hours later, "she did not recognize her friend because he had a bloodied and bruised face and head."

McDonald was lying on a mattress inside the Bennett Street warehouse where he had been staying, the prosecutor said. He died 11 days later.

What investigators would learn was that in the early morning hours of Oct. 9, after a night of drinking, smoking marijuana and socializing, there was a confrontation between Aristy and McDonald, Wilson-Leal said.

There had been bad blood between the two men, after McDonald had complained two weeks earlier about Aristy blocking his driveway and then trying to tow his vehicle with a chain, though Aristy's lawyer, Ray Buso, suggested that Aristy was no longer upset about that incident by the time of the fight.

Wilson-Leal told the jury that when McDonald saw Aristy on the property, he yelled at him to leave.

When he didn't, things got ugly fast, the prosecutor said.

Buso suggested that McDonald was the aggressor.

"Chad McDonald started the fight. Chad McDonald threw the first punch," Buso said.

"Self-defense is not a crime," Buso told jurors. "It is part of who we are."

The state's key witness, a man named Wilfredo Mordan, told investigators that McDonald grabbed a sharp object — what turned out to be a screwdriver — and that the two men began fighting, going to the ground. Eventually, Aristy was straddling McDonald, beating him with his fists and then with a piece of wood, Wilson-Leal said.

Three other men called out to Aristy, "Let's go, let's get out of here," Wilson-Leal told jurors. But it was only after they threatened to leave him stranded that Aristy agreed to go. In the car, he told his friends he wanted to go back and fight some more, the prosecutor told jurors.

Buso, holding the screwdriver, said Aristy fought because he "was not going to turn his back and walk away and risk having something like this end up in his back." During the fight, Aristy was stabbed in the arm and scratched on his neck and chest, Buso said.

But if he really were injured, why didn't Aristy seek medical attention or tell anyone? Wilson-Leal asked jurors.

Police found a bloody piece of wood, a screwdriver and a pool of blood on the pavement, all corroborating Mordan's account, the prosecutor said.

But Buso called Mordan's credibility into question, revealing to jurors how Mordan had given police a fake name, one of many he had used over the years after entering the country illegally in 1995.

"He is the epitome of scum and villainy," Buso said, referring to past deals that Mordan made with authorities to avoid severe penalties and deportation in earlier criminal cases. "He's a con man of the first degree."

Mordan was deported some time after the killing but was brought back on a material witness warrant, under an agreement between the Essex County district attorney's office and the Department of Homeland Security.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or jmanganis@salemnews.com.

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Trial under way in slaying of Peabody dad

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