PORTLAND, Maine — The murder trial for Damion Butterfield, 24, of Saco is still underway. He's one of four men accused of shooting and killing a man on Woodford Street in Portland during an attempted robbery a year and a half ago.
Butterfield has been indicted on murder, attempted murder, and robbery charges for the shooting death of 43-year-old Derald Coffin on April 26, 2022. Police said Coffin was shot twice in the abdomen. Coffin's friend, Annabelle Hartnett, was also shot at, but she survived. Butterfield has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Testimony resumed in court on Dec. 12. The first witness prosecution called to the stand was Christine Waterhouse, a forensic analyst with the Maine State Police. She said she received swabs from a number of items related to this case and that most of them contained DNA profiles from three or four people.
Waterhouse said the only profile that could definitely be matched was that of Jonathan Geisinger, another man charged with Coffin's murder. She said Geisinger's DNA was found on the hammer of the gun used to shoot both Coffin and Hartnett.
DNA from three other people couldn't be identified because it was too low level, Waterhouse said. She said that can happen for a number of reasons, like people sweating, washing their hands, or environmental factors (i.e. rain or direct sunlight).
This was similar to testimony Jon Reeder, an evidence technician with the Portland Police Department, gave last week. He said the gun could have been wiped clean, or Butterfield may have been wearing gloves at the time.
Next on Tuesday, the prosecution called Kate Michaud to the stand. She's currently an officer with the Brunswick Police Department, but she worked for the police department in Saco when this crime happened. She said she was dispatched to a local motel the evening after Coffin was shot when Butterfield decided to turn himself in on unrelated charges.
Michaud said it was raining that night. She took Butterfield to York County Jail.
Alyssa Higgins, a corrections officer at the jail, said she met Butterfield when he was taken to jail. She said he seemed to confess to shooting Coffin at one point and was seen speaking with other inmates. She said she couldn't make out their conversation, though.
The defense pushed back against Higgins' testimony, saying she never made another mention of Butterfield's apparent confession until the Portland Police Department came to her more than a year later.
Daniel Townsend, a detective with the Portland Police Department, also took the stand on Tuesday. The prosecution played a recording of Townsend and another detective speaking with Butterfield in May of 2022. In the video, Butterfield denies his role in the crimes but then makes some seemingly self-incriminating statements before ending his conversation with police.
This trial is slated for two weeks. Two of the other men charged, Jonathan Geisinger and Anthony Osborne, may face trial in the coming months. The third man, Thomas MacDonald, is working with the prosecution in exchange for a reduced charge.
