Lewiston men found guilty of murder, kidnapping

AUBURN – Two Lewiston men who accused each other of running an elderly man over with his own car are both going to prison.

Jurors in Androscoggin County Superior Court deliberated a day and a half before finding both Shaun Tuttle and David Lakin guilty on Tuesday of murder and kidnapping in last year’s killing of 81-year-old James McManus along a dirt road.

Tuttle, 22, and Lakin, 23, both testified that they were passed-out drunk in the back seat of McManus’ Buick Century when the other ran over him.

During closing arguments, the prosecution said Lakin and Tuttle were both responsible, and it didn’t matter which one of them actually ran over McManus. Under state law, anyone who aids and abets in a murder is just as guilt.

“The car didn’t drive itself over Mr. McManus,” said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, one of two prosecutors who tried the case. “That’s what the jury had to ferret out. And in doing so, they found that they were working together.”

Tuttle and Lakin were accused of abducting McManus from his apartment on March 9, 2004, then driving him to North Turner, where he was assaulted and crushed by the car. His body was discovered the next day, stuffed into the car’s trunk.