Double murder trial to resume in Portland

PORTLAND – An image of Jon Dilley as a controlling force has emerged in his double murder trial, which resumes this morning in Portland.

The 52-year-old Pittston man is accused of fatally shooting his mother, Sarah Murray, and wife, “Chellie” Calloway, in August 2004 at his mother’s Boothbay Harbor summer home.

Dilley testified Friday that his mother interfered in his marriage and financial affairs and tried since he was a youth to control him. But Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said Friday that Dilley was the controlling one.

The prosecutor said Dilley wouldn’t let his wife turn up the heat in their home without his permission, or allow her to use his car.

“Your first marriage ended with your wife calling you emotionally abusive and violent. Your second wife left you after shooting at you 13 times. Your third wife was shot and killed by you,” said Marchese, who spent much of the day cross-examining Dilley.

Dilley has not denied that he killed his mother and estranged wife in 2004, but his attorney claims Dilley had a mental breakdown and should not be held criminally responsible.

Dilley said he frequently argued with his mother, who he said was encouraging his wife to leave him.

“I felt like my mother and I were in constant juxtaposition over nutrition, finance, spending,” Dilley said.

On the morning of the shooting, Dilley drove to Boothbay Harbor to pick up his two youngest children for a weekend visit. He had a bag with three handguns in the trunk of his car.

Dilley estimated that he kept 35 to 40 guns in his basement, and occasionally shot at shooting ranges.

After arriving at his mother’s home, she threatened to call police on him, Dilley testified. Dilley said he responded by telling his mother he should be calling the police.

“Maybe she should have,” Marchese told Dilley. “It would have saved her life.”

Today’s proceedings are expected to include testimony from a psychologist who examined Dilley at the request of the defense.