BELFAST, Maine — A Northfield man accused of shooting and killing three people in three different locations in Washington County told a jury Wednesday morning that he shot them in self defense.
Thomas Bonfanti, 65, a longtime member of the American Legion, said he found out that a large amount of money was missing from the local chapter in Machias. Bonfanti gave his own opening statement to the jury, a task that normally is done by a defendant’s attorney.
Bonfanti told jurors that he learned that the money was being used to feed someone’s drug habit, and that the four people he shot were involved in the scheme. He went to the three houses where the shootings took place — two in Machias and one in Jonesboro — to talk to the victims about the missing money.
“Every case has two sides,” Bonfanti told the jury. “The state wasn’t there. I was.”
Prior to the jury coming into the courtroom, Jeff Toothaker, who is representing Bonfanti at the trial, told Justice Bruce Mallonee that Bonfanti wanted to make his own opening statement. The judge approved the request.
Bonfanti is accused of shooting four people, including the three who died, at three different houses in Machias and Jonesboro on the morning of Feb. 3, 2020. He was arrested at the American Legion Hall in Machias later that morning without resistance.
Killed in the shootings were Jennifer Bryant Flynn, 49, of Machias; Samuel Powers, 33, of Jonesboro; and Shawn Currey, 57, of Machias, all of whom were shot at their homes. Bonfanti also is charged with one count of aggravated attempted murder and one count of elevated aggravated assault in the shooting of Regina Hall Long, 49, who shared a home with Currey and was shot the same morning. Long survived her injuries.
Robert “Bud” Ellis, a prosecutor with the state Attorney General’s office, told the jury that Bonfanti knew Powers, Flynn and Long but he did not know Currey.
Bonfanti showed up at Long and Currey’s house on the morning of Feb. 3, sat down in their kitchen and drank some coffee with them before he pulled a pistol out of his coat and began shooting, Ellis told the jury in his opening statement.
He shot Long twice, including in the face and she fell to the floor and pretended to be dead. Bonfanti shot Currey twice, once in the neck, severing his spinal cord.
“Shawn Currey was in the wrong place at the wrong time” the prosecutor said.
Ellis told the jury the state does not need to prove or to show why Bonfanti shot his victims. They just have to show that he did so on purpose.
“What matters is what he did,” Ellis said.
Fifteen people — 10 men and 5 women — were selected Tuesday to serve on the jury at Bonfanti’s trial, which is expected to last two to three weeks.
The jurors include three alternates, each of whom will be available to participate in jury deliberations after testimony ends if a juror has to drop out of the proceedings. Jurors won’t know who the three alternates are until just before the deliberations begin.