Crime & Safety

Mazzaglia Defense Portrays Witness as Compulsive Liar

Defense attorneys continue to question the credibility of the state's star witness.

Defense lawyers for accused murderer Seth Mazzaglia grilled the state's star witness Monday during a cross-examination that portrayed his ex-girlfriend as an accomplished liar and, in her own words, a "nuanced actress."

Kathryn "Kat" McDonough continued to testify that Mazzaglia murdered Lizzi Marriott on Oct. 9, 2012, and that she was powerless in their alternative lifestyle and relationship.
 
Barth Joachim, an attorney for Mazzaglia, questioned the veracity of her testimony. The defense has previously told jurors that McDonough was responsible for Marriott's death. Joachim further argued June 9 that McDonough "started to spin this lie" well before talking with Mazzaglia.

Below is a 60-second exchange as the defense tried to impeach the witness and erode her credibility:

Barth: "You have admitted to lying to Roberta Gerkin."
McDonough: "Yes."
Barth: "You have admitted to lying to Seth."
McDonough: "I have."
Barth: "You have claimed that you lied to us, that is, the public defenders office, in taking your statement.
McDonough: "I have lied to you, yes."
Barth: "Do you consider yourself a good liar?"
McDonough: "Not necessarily, seeing as I got caught lying, and now it would appear to be multiple times, so, no, I don't consider myself a good liar."
Barth: "Do you agree you are a persistent liar?"
McDonough: "Not really, no."
Barth: "You lied repeatedly, correct?"
McDonough: "Throughout this process, yes I did, in the beginning."
Barth: "To multiple audiences?"
McDonough: "Yes, I wanted to cover as much ground as I could to protect him."
Barth: "Alarm bells don't go off around you when you lie?"
McDonough: "I'm not sure what you mean."
Barth: "You don't send out a specific signal or indication that you're lying?
McDonough: "I don't know."
Barth: "You're good at it, aren't you?"

Barth kept up his cross-examination by suggesting McDonough, 20, was using the theater camp skills to project meekness, a submissive nature and remorse to the jury. She insisted she was not lying to jurors.

The trial again covered some of the correspondence between McDonough and Mazzaglia, and recounted how McDonough was trying to recruit women into their relationship, a relationship that included sexual bondage.

McDonough has testified that Mazzaglia came up behind Marriott and strangled her to death with a rope before raping her lifeless body. The defense argues that McDonough, though just 19 and a decade younger, was the one responsible, and that she controlled Mazzaglia, and was the lead planner in trying to lure a young woman into the relationship and in the conspiracy to cover up the murder.

After Mazzaglia was arrested, she was found to have surfed FetLife, a website for the sexual fetish community, Barth pointed out.

Barth suggested the lies McDonough told Gerkin, a former Mazzaglia friend who saw Marriott's body in his apartment that night, were part of a much bigger pattern. This same pattern, according to his questioning, included her trying to somehow suggest a fraternity at the University of New Hampshire was involved in Marriott's disappearance because of where she parked her car at A Lot at the campus in Durham.

McDonough struck a deal with the state last year to testify against Mazzaglia. She is serving one and a half to three years at the state women's prison in Goffstown, with two similar sentences suspended.

McDonough returns to the stand June 10 as State v. Seth Mazzaglia continues in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H.

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