Highway Crossbow Killer Wants New Trial

A man convicted nearly 20 years ago of murder on the shoulder of I-95 in Attleboro with a crossbow has requested a new trial. Attorney Patricia Quintilian says her client Donald Graham, 73, did not receive a fair trial because jury selection was improperly closed to the public, according to The Call.

"Jury selection is considered a material part of the trial," Quintilian told The Call, according to the newspaper, which covers Graham's hometown of Woonsocket. "When the judge closed it, Mr. Graham's rights were violated."

Graham was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996, two years after he killed 42-year-old Michael Blodgett. The case received national attention as an extreme case of road rage, according to The Call. Graham is the subject of a book released last year titled Deacon's Crossbow. The author is Alaska resident Dave Brown, a friend of Graham's who met him 25 years ago when the convicted murderer was a deacon at the First Baptist Church in Woonsocket. The Call says Brown is involved in the request for a new trial.

The Call described the Feb. 20, 1994 killing that happened after Graham said he was offended by a motorist flashing his high beams at a car traveling in front of him on I-95.

During the trial, Graham testified that the discourteous behavior prompted him to give the headlight-flashing driver "a taste of his own medicine," so he began pursuing the offending driver with his high beams on.

Graham claimed he grew frightened when trash was thrown at his vehicle from Blodgett's car and Blodgett twice attempted to force a rear-end collision by slamming on his brakes suddenly, all in the midst of highway-speed traffic. When Blodgett pulled over to the shoulder, however, Graham did the same. He could have continued on, but he was too frightened to do so because, he testified, it might have given Blodgett the opportunity the follow him.

As the two cars stood motionless on the shoulder, about 100 feet apart, Blodgett and another man began walking towards Graham’s vehicle carrying a flashlight. Graham went to the trunk of his car, where he grabbed a crossbow and loaded it with a special tip, or bolt, designed to cause maximum tissue damage in big game.

"By this time, both men were within striking distance of each other," Quintilian's court papers say. "Mr. Graham, while backing up, shouted for the men to 'Hold it, stop right there.' He requested them to stop two more times to no avail. The victim grabbed for the bow and it fired."

After being struck in the chest, Blodgett died of massive internal hemorrhaging at Sturdy Memorial Hospital.