Prosecutor: Berthelot killed as he slept

As the prosecution presented its case that Darby Frickey Jr. killed Mark Berthelot on Oct. 5, 2011, near Bayou Vista, Frickey’s defense attorney said the state has the specifics of the killing all wrong.
Berthelot was killed in a desperate life-or-death fight with Frickey, the defense said.
The prosecution contends Berthelot was bludgeoned to death as he slept.
Assistant district attorney Anthony Saleme, in black gloves, unsealed a dirty, stained ice chest found by cane farmers near Centerville on Nov. 18, 2011, that contained the remains of the victim.
Tears filled the eyes of a few women, among the three dozen Berthelot supporters and family, sitting behind Saleme.
Frickey had about 10 supporters sitting behind him as he occasionally wrote a few words or doodled on a yellow sheet of paper.
Jurors stood up to get a better view of the ice chest and then of 4-foot-by-8-foot sheets of plywood from the ceiling that had paint over blood stains.
Saleme told jurors he would prove Frickey, 40, was guilty of second-degree murder by attacking Berthelot, 38, with the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm and the killing had not been done in self-defense.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff Capt. Jonathan Booth, who was a detective on the case, said investigators suspected Frickey of coming home, perhaps on a lunch break, and bludgeoning Berthelot to death with a pipe as he slept on a couch in Frickey’s house where the victim was temporarily staying. That was what they had been told by Jeff Connery, who helped Frickey conceal the body, he said.
Robby Gill, one of two attorneys defending Frickey, attacked the credibility of Connery’s statement.
Gill contended Frickey would have passed the sleeping man and gone to his bedroom and gotten the loaded gun detectives recovered if he had come home to kill Berthelot. Rather, said Gill, the 150-pound Frickey killed Berthelot after the victim had tried to “hospitalize” the smaller man with a missed punch.
Gill said Frickey struck Berthelot 15 to 20 times with a 3-foot pipe in a fight that covered much of the living room. Gill said Frickey eventually grabbed a knife, which he used to slit Berthelot’s throat to make sure Berthelot was dead because “I thought it was him or me.”
“Jeff Connery said Mr. Berthelot was killed in his sleep … Imagine Mr. Berthelot lying asleep on a couch,” Gill said as he lay down on the floor in front of the jury. The ceiling was a little more than seven feet tall, he said. Picking up a three-foot prop, Gill asked how Frickey could have stood over the couch and killed Berthelot with a pipe and get blood on the floor and ceiling in various places in the room.
Gill continued, “Doesn’t it make more sense that Mr. Berthelot was beaten here,” then moving across the courtroom, “Fighting and beaten here;” moving again he said, “Fighting and beaten here.”
“Jeff Connery was not there … he is the only person that says Berthelot was asleep.” Gill said.
Gill told the jury Connery asked for a written promise he would not be prosecuted and had motivation to give a story he thought would help him. Booth said no written deals were offered Connery in exchange of his statement. Gill said despite helping Frickey dispose of the body, Connery was not charged with accessory after the fact or anything else for those actions.
Gill said it was reasonable for Frickey to fear Berthelot because the victim had broken a man’s jaw in two places with a single punch and pleaded guilty to the assault the year before. Gill said Berthelot was known to be a meth user and distributor. Frickey was also a meth user, Gill acknowledged.
The jury saw and heard interviews of Frickey held on Dec. 2 and 5 in which Frickey claimed he last saw Berthelot walking away from his trailer with a duffle back, never to return again.
During the Dec. 5 interview a detective said a neighbor saw Frickey and another person loading an ice chest into a pickup truck. At that point Frickey said, “Man, I’m done talking.”
The sheriff’s office executed a search warrant inside Frickey’s home and removed evidence they said incriminated Frickey in the killing and subsequently arrested Frickey on Dec. 5.
When being transported to jail after his arrest, Frickey said he wanted to talk to investigators. He wrote a note stating he wanted to talk to them. He said he was scared to tell the truth because of fear of retribution toward his son, ex-wife or himself if it were known he had killed Berthelot.
Gill said Frickey told investigators that on the morning of the killing Berthelot was taking hits of meth with another man and Frickey took two hits before leaving for work. Gill said Frickey told police he returned around lunch and that is when the fight broke out.
Saleme said, “Regardless of Mr. Berthelot’s previous conviction, if Mr. Berthelot is asleep would it matter what his previous history was or how bad a fighter Mr. Frickey thought he was.”
The trial resumed this morning with the state continuing to present its case.