BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Tensions were high in the Penobscot County courtroom Wednesday morning after the defense attorney for man accused of murdering Joyce McLain back in 1980 alluded to others being involved in her death, including one of the state's witnesses.
16-year-old Joyce McLain was found naked and brutally beaten to death behind Schenck High School in East Millinocket back in 1980. An arrest wasn't made for another 36 years.
Philip Scott Fournier has been charged with her death. Fournier actually confessed to murdering McLain nearly four decades ago, but police didn't take him seriously.
Fournier's defense attorney's suggested that others were involved or even knew more about the crime but were never held accountable. Alluding that the state's witness, Grant Boynton, had provided false testimony in order to clear his name.
When taking the stand, Boynton agreed that he felt targeted and even threatened by police after giving his statement to police in 1980. Boynton says the night McLain was murdered he had been drinking with friends, including Fournier. However, he claims Fournier took off with another man, LeRoy Spearin, and Boynton stayed behind.
According to court documents, Boynton was later told by police that Fournier and two others accused him of murdering McLain. Even going as far as saying Boynton had said he wanted to 'screw' the teen. Boynton denied these accusations and said that he also denied them when speaking with police.
When asked by prosecutor's if he felt pressured into giving testimony Wednesday, Boynton said "No, I came here to clear my name and tell the truth."
Nolan Tanous -- the man who says he saw Fournier and another man, LeRoy Spearin, behind Schenck High school the night of the murder, -- also took the stand. Saying he remembered seeing the two there around 7:30 or 8 p.m. and that when he saw Spearin a little later on he was "white as a ghost" and didn't know where Fournier went. At the time time,Tanous thought he was just being "silly" because Spearin drank too much whiskey.
Testimony was also given by Lorrie Nadeau, who was the person who told police in 1983 that she saw Fournier running away from Schenck High School the night McLain was murdered. As well as the man who reported the car accident that left Fournier in a coma for eight days, which happened hours after McLain was killed. Fournier told police that the accident was an attempt to kill himself.
Photos from the 1980 crime scene were shown for the first time. Giving a vivid picture of what officers saw when they first arrived on scene. The 16-year-old girl was left completely naked, with nothing but tennis shoes and socks on. She was lying on her stomach, her hands tied behind her back with some sort of blue material, her head tilted to the side.
Family and friends of McLain began to cry as the photos were shown. Two of the phots gave different views of how her body was placed, others showed the wooded area of the crime scene.
Retired State Police Sergeant, Rod Carr took the stand as the pictures were shown. At the time of the investigation he was the Patrol Supervisor of Troop E. Which oversee's areas north of Old Town, including East Millinocket.
Carr remembers getting the phone call around 6 a.m. on August 10, 1980, telling him they had found the body of Joyce McLain and needed his assistance.
After photos were taken, Carr says McLain's body was put into a bag and removed from the scene. Another investigator, Trooper Dennis Mclellan, arrived on scene with his K-9. The K-9 found McLain's clothes in a rock wall nearby.
It was not clear what other evidence, if any was found or taken from the scene.
Prosecutor's have asked almost every witness if they had heard about McLain being on 'the tail-end of her period' the night she was murdered. A key detail that Fournier disclosed to police when he gave his statement. Carr says that was a detail investigators knew about but would have never released saying, "it's something only the perpetrator would know."
Testimony Thursday is expected to be heard from more of those involved in the investigation. At this time there still has not been any new evidence presented. The State has between 35 and 40 witnesses that they plan to call upon. The Defense has slightly less. The trial is expected to go into early February.
If convicted, Fournier faces between 25 to life in prison.