Lynn murder trial jury begins deliberations

SALEM – Assistant District Attorney Maureen Wilson-Leal emphasized in her closing argument Monday that murder suspect Fernando Aristy “was not afraid” nor acting in self-defense when he savagely beat a Peabody father of two on Oct. 9, 2010 outside a Lynn warehouse.?When the defendant (left the fight) on Oct. 9, 2010, he was not scared, he was mad,” Leal told a jury at Salem Superior Court. “He had a job to do and he didn?t finish. He wanted to kill Chad McDonald.”McDonald died of his injuries 11 days later.Family members of both Aristy and McDonald filled the courtroom to hear the closing arguments in the murder trial for Aristy, who is charged in the beating death of McDonald, 34, a Lynn native.Prosecutors say Aristy used a wooden board to beat McDonald outside a warehouse on Bennett Street in Lynn. Aristy looked on as the attorneys spoke, but did not make eye contact with the jury, nor look back at his family members.Wilson-Leal told jurors Aristy could not have been acting in self-defense because he “had every opportunity to leave” instead of engaging McDonald in a fight. She argued that Aristy was “executing a plan” to kill the Lynn native.?He want(ed) to get back at Chad McDonald and what a perfect opportunity,” Wilson-Leal said. “There?s no one around, it?s dark, he?s got his crew. Now?s his chance to get his revenge – to show off.”Leal showed the jury two photographs side by side: one of McDonald smiling, the other of his swollen, discolored face taken on the day he allegedly fought with Aristy over an ongoing parking dispute.But Aristy?s attorney, Ray Buso of Salem, described McDonald as a “risk-taker” who would rather solve problems his own way than call police. He referred to an earlier argument between McDonald and Aristy in which McDonald put a chain around the bumper of Aristy?s Jeep and prepared to tow it himself from where Aristy had allegedly parked it – right in the entranceway to Appleyard Bonded Storage, where McDonald worked.?He could?ve ripped off the bumper, could have ruined the transmission. To basically destroy another man?s car – that?s the kind of person Chad McDonald was,” Buso said.McDonald?s wife, Michelle McDonald, clutching tissues tightly in her hand, stomped her feet as Buso spoke of her late husband?s potential mindset at the time of the fight. McDonald had been sleeping on an air mattress in his office for several weeks, due to an argument between the couple.?What?s more traumatic than moving away from your wife and son into a warehouse, living on an air mattress?” Buso asked rhetorically.The veteran lawyer then began to portray Aristy as a caring, easy-going man, who acted on “basic human instinct” on the night of the fight, and re-iterated that Aristy denied using a wooden board in beating up McDonald.?Unwanted, adrenaline pumps,” he said. “You can?t put the brakes on (it). This killing is tragic, but it?s not an unlawful killing.”Buso, who used all of the 40 minutes Judge David Lowy allotted, implored the jury to use everything they had heard over the trial?s 10 days to make a fair judgment.He told jurors what they knew was much more than police knew on Oct. 21, 2010 when they issued a warrant for Aristy?s arrest because of forensic evidence and testimony given during the trial.?He deserves a future, only you can give him that,” Buso said, his voice cracking.The jury began deliberating just after 1 p.m., following an explanation by Lowy of the differences between first-degree murder, second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. The deliberations will continue this morning.Before the closing arguments began, Buso called his second witness, Aristy?s ex-girlfriend Erica Baez, 23, to the stand, but the prosecution made numerous objections to the relevance of Buso?s questioning, which Lowy sustained, and the defense rested after about 10 minutes.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].