PEABODY — Chad McDonald was conscious and talking to his friend and then to Lynn police officers in the moments before he was placed in an ambulance, against his wishes, on the afternoon of Oct. 9, 2010, two witnesses testified yesterday.
But 11 days later, McDonald, 34, of Peabody, was dead, after his condition quickly deteriorated, prosecutors said.
In the second day of testimony in Fernando Aristy's trial on a first-degree murder charge, McDonald's longtime friend Kellie Boyd admitted she first thought McDonald was drunk when she received a garbled text message, then got no response when she knocked on the door of the Bennett Street, Lynn, storage facility where McDonald was staying.
But when she saw him, his face swollen and bloodied, she knew he needed to go to the hospital.
McDonald didn't want her to call 911, later complaining "Who's going to pay for all this?"
So she went outside to make the call.
"I didn't want him to get upset because his head was gushing blood," Boyd told jurors yesterday during cross-examination by Aristy's lawyer, Raymond Buso.
Buso is hoping to convince jurors in Salem Superior Court that Aristy, 25, acted in self-defense after McDonald armed himself with a screwdriver.
Prosecutor Maureen Wilson-Leal said Aristy also armed himself, with a wooden board that jurors got to see yesterday.
Lynn Patrolman John Mackin testified that when he encountered McDonald, his eyes were swollen shut, but that he was coherent and speaking in complete sentences. McDonald was able to walk on his own to the stretcher.
Buso had attempted to elicit testimony about what he suggests is McDonald's own history of violence, questioning Boyd outside the jury's presence about purported domestic disputes between McDonald and his wife.
But Boyd, during that questioning, said she didn't know of any type of violence in McDonald's marriage, and Buso was precluded by the judge from pursuing that issue when jurors returned to the courtroom.
Earlier in the day, jurors were taken by bus to the Bennett Street warehouse where the incident occurred.
The trial is expected to continue through next week.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or at jmanganis@salemnews.com.
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