Prosecutors question what Oxley remembers in murder trial

CANTON — Prosecutors called more rebuttal witnesses Tuesday in the murder trial of Wayne T. Oxley Jr. in St. Lawrence County Court.

Timothy J. Dawley, a state prison inmate, said Oxley told him he didn’t know whether he was guilty or not while they were in county jail together in 2006. Mr. Dawley also testified that later in that conversation Oxley said he didn’t do it.

Oxley, Ogdensburg, is accused of beating his neighbor Bernard A. Trickey Jr. to death with a wooden baseball bat in August 2005.

Lt. Michael Ames, a court officer, testified that he heard Oxley talking while he escorted him from the courtroom during the first trial.

Lt. Ames said Oxley told him, “I was so messed up that night I don’t know if I did it or not.”

Oxley testified earlier in the trial that he drank wine and smoked marijuana before passing out in his upstairs bedroom the night of the murder.

When asked by his attorney, Peter A. Dumas, Malone, if he killed Mr. Trickey, Oxley said, “No sir.”

On two different occasions, Judge Jerome J. Richards told jurors Mr. Dawley and Lt. Ames’s testimony is not offered for the truth but to contradict Oxley’s testimony.

Oxley said he may take the stand again before closing arguments that are slated for Friday.

Judge Richards has told the jury he expects them to begin deliberating this week.

Mr. Dumas has not said if he plans to call any witnesses later this week.

Oxley was convicted of second-degree murder in 2006, but an appellate court sent the case back for a retrial. A second trial ended with a hung jury.

District Attorney Nicole M. Duvé is expected to continue calling rebuttal witnesses this morning.