Descoteau charged in 1999 death of David Wood
By:Laura Toto
A Somerset County jury continued deliberations Friday in the trial of Robin Road resident Keith Descoteau, charged with first-degree murder and weapons charges in the killing of David Wood in February 1999.
Mr. Descoteau, 30, has been charged with being the ring leader in the murder of Mr. Wood, formerly of Bloomingdale Drive, who he believed had been having an affair with Michelle Descoteau, Mr. Descoteau’s wife. Two other men, Christopher Flynn and Anthony Leahey, both residents of Robin Road at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty in August to the murder and were sentenced to 30 years in prison with no chance of parole.
Closing arguments on Mr. Descoteau’s case were held Wednesday.
The jury began deliberations on the trial Thursday, emerging only once to ask to hear a taped statement Mr. Descoteau made to police last February.
The judge sent jurors home shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday with instructions to return Friday morning, when they would hear the tape.
Prosecutors claim Mr. Descoteau gave his knives to Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey for the murder. Defense attorney Steven Lieberman has been arguing Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey’s primary motivation was robbery.
In a statement made to police Feb. 21, 1999, and played to jurors Monday, Mr. Descoteau told police he had given Mr. Leahey and Mr. Flynn two knives a few days before the murder because they were planning a possible gas station robbery.
"They wanted money to leave (the state) and needed money to go," Mr. Descoteau told police.
Mr. Descoteau told police Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey woke him about 4:15 a.m., after the murder, and he told them how to clean the knives but never touched them.
In his statement, Mr. Descoteau told police he had told Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey the knives were not coming clean and would need to be buried or thrown into the river.
During the trial Monday, Mr. Flynn testified Mr. Descoteau had threatened him a few days before the murder at a going-away party for Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey that if Mr. Flynn did not kill Mr. Wood, he would never see his ex-fiancee again.
He also testified Mr. Descoteau gave him the knives to kill Mr. Wood.
Mr. Flynn told the jury he had not intended to harm or rob Mr. Wood, and had wanted to warn him so he could run away, but Mr. Wood never approached Mr. Flynn.
Mr. Flynn told the jury Mr. Descoteau was forthright in trying to get the two men to murder Mr. Wood. He also told the jury he did not know where Mr. Descoteau was at the time the three men were walking through the woods.
"Is Keith outside Sharon’s (Flynn’s ex-fiancee’s) house? Will he have David killed? Will I be killed? Will Sharon be killed (if Mr. Flynn did not kill Mr. Wood)?" Mr. Flynn told the jury he was thinking at the time.
Mr. Flynn told the jury Mr. Wood thought he was being robbed because he threw his things out of his pockets and said "take it and leave."
Mr. Flynn took Mr. Wood’s belongings from the ground and put them in his own pockets while Mr. Wood begged Leahey to get him some help, Mr. Flynn testified Monday.
After Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey had stabbed Mr. Wood to death and dragged his body across the path and left it in the woods, Mr. Flynn told the jury, he stabbed Mr. Wood again because Mr. Leahey wanted him to make sure Mr. Wood was dead.
After the murder, Mr. Flynn told the jury, Mr. Descoteau thanked both him and Mr. Leahey for what he called "the best (expletive) birthday present."
Mr. Descoteau also told Mr. Flynn that if he were caught not to tell anyone about the knives because they could be traced to him, Mr. Flynn testified.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Steven Lieberman, Mr. Flynn told the jury Mr. Leahey used Mr. Wood’s money to buy tickets for both himself and Mr. Flynn to go to Clearwater, Fla. They did not have the money to leave before the murder.
En route to Florida, Mr. Flynn got rid of both knives. When picked up by Clearwater police on Feb. 21, 1999, he lied to them about his involvement with Mr. Wood’s murder, Mr. Flynn told the jury.
During cross-examination, Mr. Lieberman suggested that Mr. Flynn and Mr. Leahey had committed the murder on their own initiative and that Mr. Descoteau had not been directly involved.
But Mr. Flynn told the jury Mr. Descoteau had everything to do with Mr. Wood’s murder.
"Had the threat (to Mr. Flynn’s ex-fiancee) not been made (by Mr. Descoteau), had Anthony never been behind my back with a knife, David never would have died," Mr. Flynn told the jury.

