Richard Mattingly Murder Case - Trial

Trial

Hitner pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and in May 1971 was sentenced to 30 years, with 5 stayed based on his having testified at trial against Comeau, who was convicted and given 30 years. Debra Mattingly, for her part, was sent to a juvenile institution in Florida, after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial in adult court. She was later deprived of any interest in her father's estate as a result of a legal suit filed against her by her brother. Truax, who claimed she had been horrified by these events (notwithstanding testimony that she had talked about being a "witch" at the time and had been an accessory), escaped prosecution, after testifying at trial against Comeau. Hitner later claimed to have embraced Christianity, and attributed his behavior in a statement at sentencing to his experience as a killer in Vietnam, combined with his abuse of LSD, which had made him think he was killing a Viet Cong, as part of a mindset that had given him a depraved indifference to human life.