Jury in Lynn beating death begins deliberations

SALEM – Assistant District Attorney Maureen Wilson-Leal emphasized in her closing argument this morning that murder suspect Fernando Aristy “was not afraid” nor acting in self-defense when he savagely beat a Peabody father outside a Lynn warehouse on Oct. 9, 2010.?When the defendant [left the fight]?he was not scared, he was mad,” Leal told a packed Salem Superior courtroom. “He had a job to do and he didn’t finish it. He wanted to kill Chad McDonald.”McDonald died from his injuries on Oct. 20, 2010, 11 days after the incident.During his closing statement, Aristy’s attorney Ray Buso described McDonald, 34, as a “risk-taker” who would rather solve problems his own way than call police, and portrayed Aristy as a caring man who acted on “basic human instinct” on the night of the fight.The jury began deliberating just after noon, following an explanation by Judge David Lowy of the differences between first-degree murder, second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.Read the complete story in Tuesday’s Daily Item.