A former Maine man on trial for murder and his mother testified as the court proceeding wound down in recent days, the defendant’s attorney said Monday.
Troy T. McVey, 22, is accused of fatally shooting transient Richard Miller, 52, just before midnight on Jan. 4, 2015, at a busy intersection in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
McVey originally was tried for murder in October, which resulted in a hung jury, according to his lawyer, Arthur Lindars, who is arguing that McVey had taken the drug Ecstasy and didn’t know what he was doing when he killed Miller. McVey testified to that fact on Friday during his retrial, his lawyer said.
McVey’s mother, Greenville High School principal Kelly MacFadyen, then took the stand, Lindars said.
“His mother inadvertently, when she picked up his personal items, took the drugs to Maine,” the Los Angeles defense attorney said by phone. “They were turned over to the Greenville police, then were sent back to Los Angeles and were tested. They tested positive for Ecstasy.”
MacFadyen turned over what she found to the Greenville Police Department on April 19, and it was sent to the Los Angeles Police Department, a local officer said Friday.
Ecstasy, or MDMA, produces both amphetamine-like stimulation and mild mescaline-like hallucinations, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Several messages left for MacFadyen seeking comment were not returned.
Miller was shot multiple times at about 11:55 p.m. Jan. 4, 2015, and was taken to an area hospital, where he later died of his wounds, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department issued the day after the shooting.
McVey and Colby R. Kronholm, 21, both formerly of Greenville, were arrested together and charged with murder shortly after the shooting. The charge against Kronholm was dropped in October, according to Greg Risling, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Deputy District Attorney Michael Dean is handling the case.
The shooting was witnessed by an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer, who helped lead police to McVey and Kronholm, who ran from the scene.
The two former Mainers were in Hollywood trying to buy drugs and had been sold sugar, Lindars said. He said McVey testified that he was under the influence of Ecstasy when he shot Miller in the leg and hip after the homeless man asked for money.
“The [district attorney] thinks Mr. McVey is a callous drug dealer and he shot the guy because he mistook him for the guys who sold him the bogus drugs,” Lindars said last month.
If McVey had not taken the hallucinogenic drug, “he wouldn’t have acted the way he did,” Lindars said.
Both the defense and prosecution rested their cases on Friday, Lindars said. However, later that evening, Lindars was informed by prosecutors that reports about the shooting victim’s mental health were not released as requested in May 2014, and therefore he filed a motion Monday for a mistrial.
The judge is allowing additional motions on Miller’s medical history until Wednesday.
“Essentially he gave us 48 hours to investigate” the new information about Miller’s mental health and make additional motions, if warranted, Lindars said.
“This is a self-defense case,” Lindars said.
The jury is scheduled to deliberate the retrial on Wednesday, a representative from the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Monday.
McVey is a Greenville High School graduate and former Maine Maritime Academy student who was enrolled at the California Maritime Academy just before the shooting.
“He’s doing as well as can be expected,” Lindars said, adding, “His mother and father have been here all along.”
After MacFadyen, her husband and the last of his expert witnesses took the stand, the defense attorney called two character witnesses, one being a former boss of McVey and the other a former co-worker.
The retrial started on Jan. 14. If convicted of manslaughter, McVey faces a penalty of up to 21 years in prison. If found guilty of murder, he faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.