Gary Brinson, a 71-year-old combat veteran in Maine, is on trial for the intentional murder of his 64-year-old best friend Lee Ruona, whom he allegedly stabbed nearly 150 times in December 2024. Police found Brinson watching television near Ruona's body shortly after he called 911 to report the death. The case hinges on Brinson's level of intoxication and whether it negates intent.
On the evening of December 4, 2024, Gary Brinson and Lee Ruona, both combat veterans living in the same apartment building, consumed more than a gallon of bourbon and over 20 beers as they sought to cope with their PTSD, according to reports from local affiliates.
At around 9:57 a.m. that same day, Brinson called 911, stating, "I got a dead guy laying on my bed." When asked if he had killed Ruona, he replied, "Why would I kill my best friend?" Responding officers from the Bangor Police Department entered the apartment to find Brinson seated in a chair, holding a bottle of bourbon and channel-surfing on the television, just feet from Ruona's body. One officer described the scene in court: "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."
An autopsy revealed Ruona had suffered nearly 150 shallow puncture wounds, five deeper stab wounds to the back, a fractured spine, and several fractured ribs. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by multiple sharp and blunt force injuries.
During interrogation, the clearly intoxicated Brinson remarked that he would have been better off "just thrown the body in the dumpster." The following day, from a hotel room provided by police while his apartment was processed as a crime scene, he told detectives, "They've got me, I've done it, I'm going to jail." He also texted his stepdaughter, admitting he had "beat the s— out of my Lee" and noting that "a side I thought was over with is back."
Brinson faces one count of intentional or knowing murder. His defense attorney, Kaylee Folster, argued to jurors that his extreme intoxication could create reasonable doubt about intent: "Intoxication may create reasonable doubt that a defendant is acting in an intentional or knowing way." Prosecutors, led by Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, countered that the alcohol intensified Brinson's anger, stating, "In an alcohol-fueled rage, Mr. Brinson beat his drinking buddy to death, and you should find him guilty of intentional and knowing murder."
The trial began on Monday and continued with witness testimony through Wednesday.
