Thursday, November 29, 2012

Colin Koehler: Thrill Killer in Maine




Statement Analysis is in bold type, added to the article.  
A reliable denial is simple:
1.  The First Person Singular Pronoun, "I"
2.  The past tense verb:  "did not" or "didn't"
3.  Specific to the Allegation:  "I did not kill Holly Boutiler"

This does not need to wait for truth to come out:  the truly innocent (not just judicially innocent) will say so, easily, early and often, and without sensitivity indicators or additional language.  
Liars will say they "would" never, but will avoid the above formula for a reliable denial. 
This man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  Underlining, color and italics have been added for emphasis, with analysis in bold type.  We often look for articles which claim "denials" are made only to find that there was no denial of the action, or, in the least, there was no reliable denial. 

To know more about this brutal crime, see:   HERE

Of note and concern is when a profiler says that a violent murder is simply not committed by someone without a history of violence.  In this case, the subject was fined for threatening, but had no history of violence, and only had traffic issues.  

He slit a girl's throat to prove he was not involved with her.  He had known her for a single day.  We do not need to see an increase in violence to reach this point.  This argument was made (and is now outdated) about the Ramseys.  We continue to see cases in which an extremely violent act is carried out by someone without a history of violence.  History, by itself, is not a defense.  


[¶27] The court found, as mitigating factors, that Koehler had no substantial criminal history, had no prior antisocial diagnosis, and had a close relationship with his family. The court found that the lack of any mental health diagnosis was only a limited mitigating factor, however, because Koehler’s commission of this crime made it impossible to predict whether he would reoffend; there was no condition to treat or effort that could be made to prevent him from reoffending" 
BANGOR, Maine — Colin Koehler on Thursday repeatedly denied brutally stabbing to death a 19-year-old woman last year, but he could not explain how Holly Boutilier’s blood got on the bluejeans that police recovered from his bedroom or who sent text messages confessing to the crime from a cell phone number Koehler said was his.
Koehler also testified that the knife prosecutors identified as the murder weapon resembles one stolen from his apartment several months before Boutilier’s death on Aug. 8, 2009. In addition, he denied confessing to the half-dozen witnesses who have testified that Koehler told them he stabbed Boutilier in the abdomen and throat.
The defense rested its case after Koehler spent more than 2½ hours on the stand. The prosecution rested Wednesday.
The jury is expected to begin deliberating today after closing arguments and instructions from the judge.
I am very eager to explain my side of it and to let the truth be told,” Koehler, 35, said as he took the stand.
Note that he was not only "eager" but "very eager" to:
1.  Explain his side
2.  Let the truth be told
Please note the order with his "side" coming before truth.
Next, note that "truth be told" is passive language, rather than say, "I will tell the truth" it is without the pronoun, "I".  He does not say that the will tell the truth, only that he is eager to "let the truth be told."  He does not say by whom the truth will be told.  This is distancing language. 
Dressed in gray slacks, a dress shirt, blue blazer and tie, Koehler was calm on the witness stand. His demeanor bore a striking resemblance to the words his friends and mother used to describe him Thursday morning — calm, gentle and artistic.
The accused killer’s appearance also bore little resemblance to the mug shot released after his arrest. Since then, he has let his closely cropped brown hair grow long and worn it combed back from his forehead. He has worn a dress shirt, tie, slacks and sports coat to court every day this week.
The victim’s parents and other family members sat directly in front of Koehler while he was on the stand and directly across the aisle from the defendant’s parents. Family members on both sides showed little emotion as he spoke.
Koehler was arrested on Aug. 11, 2009, after a brief standoff with Bangor police outside his Columbia Street apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to intentional or knowing murder. He has been held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail since his arrest.
The defendant and Justin Ptaszynski, 28, of Bangor went for a walk along the Penobscot River with Boutilier on Aug. 8, 2009, Ptaszynski testified Tuesday. Her bloody body was found by a transient the next day in a cluttered shack not far from the end of Dutton Street, which runs from Main Street to the riverfront between Hollywood Slots and Geaghan’s Pub.
Outside the courtroom earlier this week, defense attorney Richard Hartley of Bangor described Ptaszynski as an alternative suspect. Originally charged with murder, Ptaszynski pleaded guilty in May in Kennebec County Superior Court to the lesser charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution. He was sentenced to 10 years with all but six suspended and is incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren.
Koehler was adamant Thursday that the last time he saw Boutilier was about 1 a.m. the day she was killed, when she left his apartment with Ptaszynski. Ptaszynski later returned and slept at Koehler’s apartment, both men agreed. The next day, they left the apartment together.
Ptaszynski testified Tuesday they met up with Boutilier and walked south on Main Street past the Bangor police station. Koehler said Thursday that he is not depicted in a surveillance video of two men and a woman walking down Cedar Street past Summer Street near the station about 1:15 p.m. that Saturday. Ptaszynski and investigators testified earlier this week that it was Koehler.
Koehler said Thursday that he left Ptaszynski in Pickering Square and headed toward the Bangor waterfront, where a charity basketball and music event was being held in a parking lot. The defendant testified that he left the record company-sponsored event with Ptaszynski and walked south along the railroad tracks, sharing a marijuana cigarette.
The defendant said that he and Ptaszynski are the two men shown in surveillance videos from cameras outside Hollywood Slots facing Dutton Street. Koehler also said he is the man with Ptaszynski in footage taken at Shaw’s Supermarket, where the two returned a video.
Under direct- and cross-examination, Koehler insisted that on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, between 11:20 a.m. and noon he could not have been texting his former girlfriend Jessica Palmer, 23, of Bangor or Ken Creamer, 21, of Hartland, the man Palmer said she left Koehler for. The defendant testified that the phone he had with him when he went to the Bangor police station that day to try to drop charges filed against Creamer on July 31 had run out of minutes.
Koehler said that he was playing a game on his phone and not texting as it appeared in video from cameras at the station. He testified that his only working phone was at his apartment being charged during that time frame. Koehler, however, admitted that the text messages found on cell phones belonging to Palmer and Creamer came from his phone.
Although Koehler said several times that he had a theory about how the evidence gathered by investigators pointed in his direction, he did not elaborate on it.
Before Koehler took the stand, Hartley introduced a letter in which Christopher Goode of Bangor confessed to the crime. Goode, who said he suffers from mental illness and has been in and out of jail often, testified that he wrote the letter under duress and threats from Koehler and another inmate.
Koehler said he had heard that Goode had admitted killing Boutilier. The defendant said another inmate encouraged Goode to write out his confession.

5 comments:

John Mc Gowan said...

Of note and concern is when a profiler says that a violent murder is simply not committed by someone without a history of violence.


I think everyone has a mental trigger point, that is, there's something everyone feels so strongly about that if you argue against this point, the person stops thinking and starts getting angry



Peter,isnt there always a trigger point,something that eventually makes someone snap irrespective of their past history.

Anonymous said...

I think you have an excellent point there John. Sometimes one can be pushed so far that there is not much they can do to avoid this awful reactive lack of behavior management control unless they are able to use logic and quickly remove themselves from the situation. Thank heavens most of us are able to avoid going all the way to this trigger point.

On the other hand, there are many of these thrill killers who are so psychotic and who weren't pushed to their breaking point and beyond; but who are so deviant and of a reprobate mind that they plan and perform the kill without any provocation. Unfortunately, some of these can snap at any time without any prior warnings.

Sad, we just never know who we're dealing with. REB

Anonymous said...

I think he has done stuff in the past, just hasn't been caught for it. Just think of all the dirty oldmen caught on live tv when they do a predator round-up with Hansen. According to them, that was the "first" time they did such a thing. If someone digs deep, they will probably find that he didn't treat people well, he probably mistreated women, he was not someone people felt close to. He is a sociopath that got away with it until now.

Shelley said...

The thing about this "lack of history" is that it just means he was not caught.. Does not necessarily mean he has not committed other crimes or even murders.


People forget how many unsolved murders happen ever day.

It's very possible this man has killed before and just got away with it.

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