Crime & Safety
Mazzaglia Defense Asks Jurors to Deliver 'Not Guilty' Verdict
Defense about Kat McDonough: "Am I arguing to you that she is fully psychotic? No, I'm arguing to you that there is something different going on here."
The defense for the man accused of murdering Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott asked the jury to deliver a verdict of not guilty because of what he called the lies and unreliable testimony of the state's key witness.
Joachim Barth, in closing arguments June 25 in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., said the witness, Kathryn McDonough, manipulated and lied to her ex-boyfriend, Seth Mazzaglia.
Barth said that McDonough, who said under oath that Mazzaglia strangled and raped Marriott on Oct. 9, 2012, gave investigators different accounts and testified to protect her own self-interest.
Barth asked jurors to weigh the reliability of the evidence, and the number of times she lied and deceived people.
"She has years of motivation," he said. "She has fear motivation. She has 'it's all about Kat' motivation."
McDonough, 20, struck a deal with the state last year to testify against Mazzaglia. She is serving one and a half to three years in prison, with two similar sentences suspended, for conspiracy, witness tampering and hindering prosecution.
She described on the witness stand how Marriott died after she and Mazzaglia invited her over to watch a movie and played strip poker. McDonough said Mazzaglia, when Marriott spurned his advances, came up behind her and strangled her, and raped her while muttering to her motionless body.
McDonough also recalled in detail how she and Mazzaglia dumped the body of the 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student into the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth.
The defense argued that McDonough was responsible for Marriott's death after rough sex in Mazzaglia's Dover apartment, and that McDonough was a dominating person with questionable mental state.
Barth cited trial evidence that she had "voices in her head," and had different personas.
"She lacks control when it happens. They tend towards aggressiveness and domination," Barth said.
"Am I arguing to you that she is fully psychotic? No, I'm arguing to you that there is something different going on here."
The state will deliver its closing arguments Wednesday afternoon.
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