Testifying during a April 12 hearing to determine whether he will be tried as a juvenile or an adult, Samuel Geary, 17, accused his older co-defendant of stabbing and brutally beating the victim to death with a hammer.
Geary and 19-year-old Reginald Dobbins, also of Houlton, both have been charged with murder in connection with the death of Keith Suitter at his home at 412 Hillview Ave. in Houlton on March 1, 2015.
Dobbins pleaded not guilty to the charge in June and is being held without bail in the Aroostook County Jail.
Geary, who was 16 when Suitter was killed, has entered a plea of denial in juvenile court, which is equivalent to a not guilty plea in adult proceedings. He is being held in a state juvenile facility.
The Maine attorney general’s office seeks to have Geary tried as an adult.
The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Suitter testified on April 11 that the victim suffered 21 blunt force trauma blows, mostly to the head, that appeared to have been inflicted by a hammer, and 10 stab wounds to the head and back.
On April 12, in front of his sobbing mother, several relatives and supporters and approximately eight members of the Suitter family, Geary recounted the night of the killing, blaming much of what happened on Dobbins.
Under withering cross examination from Assistant Attorney General John Alsop, however, Geary admitted to repeatedly lying to his mother and others, abusing drugs and alcohol, seeking out the company of Dobbins even though his mother told him not to, and getting into trouble at the Mountain View Youth Development Center even after his arrest.
Geary said that he spent most of the late afternoon of March 1, 2015, drinking vodka and smoking pot at Dobbins’ home until he became so drunk that he passed out and vomited several times.
He testified that he asked to be taken home so he could meet his 6 p.m. curfew, and got into a car with Dobbins and Dobbins’ mother. The two were dropped off a short distance from the victim’s mobile home.
“He told me we were going to stop and pick up some weed,” Geary testified as the reason for the detour to the Suitter home, adding that he had never seen Suitter before.
He testified that Dobbins, who was dressed in a long black quilted coat, knocked on Suitter’s door and when the victim opened it, Dobbins told him that they had crashed their car and needed to use the phone.
When Suitter turned around to let them into the home, Geary testified, Dobbins pulled a hammer out of his jacket and began hitting Suitter. After Dobbins was done striking the victim, Geary said, Dobbins started rifling through the mobile home.
“I was just standing there, frozen,” said Geary. “The guy was making some noises, awful noises. Reggie ran back and hit him a couple more times with the hammer.”
Geary then testified that Dobbins told him to “stab the guy” with a knife that Dobbins had given him earlier that day because he knew Geary collected knives.
Geary said that he “tried to stab him” but the knife didn’t open all the way, and he instead cut himself, which angered Dobbins. Dobbins then stabbed the victim.
The teen said that Dobbins began stuffing items into his pockets and then got behind the wheel of Suitter’s truck and demanded that Geary get in as well. They drove off but crashed the truck in a snowbank a short distance away.
They were picked up a short time later by Reginald Dobbins’ father and they returned to Dobbins’ house, according to Geary. He said they deposited the items stolen from the Suitter home onto Dobbins’ bed and Geary returned to his home.
Geary did not indicate during his testimony what the stolen items were.
Suitter was found dead in his home after two friends discovered his abandoned truck and went to check on him.
Maine State Police Detective Todd Stetson testified earlier April 12 that a knife was found in a hole in the wall during a police search of the Dobbins residence.
Stetson said that when it was found, Dobbins began to “get nervous.”
“He began to sweat profusely,” the detective testified. “He said, ‘I am going to be sick.’”
Stetson said police also recovered from the home the black coat that Geary testified Dobbins was wearing during the murder.
Under cross examination by Alsop later April 12, Geary admitted that Dobbins did not force him to get out of the car or go into the Suitter home. He also admitted that he had a cellphone with him and could have called someone for help.
Geary refuted earlier testimony by two juveniles who said that Geary confessed separately to them shortly after he was arrested in March 2015.
