Joseph R. Samson

   Cause of his death was murder (shot by son, Alan J. Samson).

Lewiston Daily Sun
Lewiston, Maine
December 4, 1982
p. 1 & 8

Samson Found Guilty
by Tammy Eves
Sun Staff Writer

A jury deliberated two hours Monday and found Alan J. Samson of Turner guilty of murdering his father and brother last year.

That same jury will now decide if Samson was insane when he shot and killed his father Joseph Samson and his 18 year old brother Curtis Samson on Nov. 2, 1981.

Samson, 20, pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity to the slayings.

Samson showed no reaction to Monday's verdict, which was reached at 1 p.m. Testimony in the case began Friday in Androscoggin County Superior Court and the evidence was closed several hours later.

Tuesday morning the jury will begin to hear evidence about Samson's mental condition at the time of the murders. He will be acquitted if he is found to have been suffering from a mental disease or defect on Nov. 2, 1981 that prevented him from understanding the difference between right and wrong.

Defense attorney E. James Burke estimated he will be able to present most of his witnesses in one day. He said his first witness will be Dr. Norman Chazin, a Lewiston psychiatrist.

Burke has also said he will call a number of "lay witnesses", including Samson's mother, who have observed Samson's behavior before the slayings.

The final defense witness is scheduled to testify Wednesday morning. Assistant Attorney General Herbert Bunker said he will probably wait until the close of Burke's case to make an opening statement to the jury. Bunker then will have the opportunity to present state witnesses.

Joseph and Curtis Samson were killed at the Route 4 home where Alan Samson lived with his parents and younger brother. Joseph Samson was shot once and Curtis was shot twice, according to testimony.

Medical examiners testifying during the first phase of the Samson trial said Joseph Samson was shot through the neck and Curtis Samson was shot in the face and the groin.

The two men had apparently been killed in separate rooms and then dragged outside the house, according to State Police Sgt. James Pinette.

Bunker described the evidence against Samson as "overwhelming" during his closing argument Monday morning. According to testimony on Friday, Samson had blood on his clothes and was the only person in the house with his father and brother when the police arrived.

Samson also wrote a letter to his mother after his arrest in which he admitted killing his father and brother, but he said they were shot accidentally.

During the first phase of the trial, Bunker had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Samson intentionally or knowingly killed Joseph and Curtis Samson.

Burke has the burden of proving Samson insane when the case resumes Tuesday.

Only two defendants in Maine have been acquitted because of insanity in the last five years, although 41 have entered the insanity plea, according to the attorney general's office.

In 1978, a Cumberland man was acquitted of killing an 84 year old woman during a shooting spree, and in 1981, a man was acquitted in Kennebec County of shooting to death his father.

Joseph married Living