SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A judge has ruled that a Maine man accused of beating his father to death will be allowed to raise claims of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the older man at trial.
The judge ruled Thursday that testimony of prior abuse would be admissible if 33-year-old Angelo Licata and his lawyers can show that the alleged abuse when he was a child affected his state of mind at the time of his father’s death.
Authorities say Angelo Licata bludgeoned 63-year-old Alfred Licata to death in his Cambridge home last July.
The trial is scheduled to begin in Somerset County Superior Court on June 25.
Angelo Licata has pleaded not guilty.
The Morning Sentinel reported that prosecutors argued that abuse allegations had no relevance to the slaying.
I’ve known Mr.Licata since he was about 12 years old and if his father ever abused him with a good whooping it was because Angelo deserved it. He sure was a handful and a potty mouth at that young age.