DA questions woman about abuse

PALMER — In her third day on the witness stand, Lisa Donlon fielded questions from District Attorney Roman Kalytiak, who at times seemed intent on finding inconsistencies in her story.

Kalytiak pointed to statements she’d made in previous days of testimony that after she fired the first shot into her husband’s head, he started to roll over.

“He just turned over onto his back like he was getting up,” Donlon said.

Kalytiak pointed out that Donlon’s husband was found with three bullet holes in his back.

“If he rolled over after the first shot, how did those holes in his back get there?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Donlon replied.

Donlon, 40, is on trial for shooting her 39-year-old husband, Jason Donlon, to death as he slept in their Butte-area cabin in October 2010. Her defense is that she was being held prisoner and tortured, that her husband had threatened to kill her kids and promised to kill her. She had to kill him to escape.

Prosecutors argue that her claims of torture were exaggerated and that she had other options. For instance, Kalytiak pointed to an incident in which Donlon said her husband had marched her into the woods to threaten to kill her. Before he could get her out of the family car she locked the doors while he was outside.

“When your husband was locked out of the Expedition you could have driven away, right?” Kalytiak asked.

“I could have,” Donlon said.

In previous days of testimony she has said that she believed that if she got away her husband would track her down, that he told her he would and had done it before.

Still talking about the incident in the woods, Kalytiak asked about a knife.

“Did you testify before the grand jury that he pulled out his pocket knife and opened it and put it against your throat and started pressing the blade in?” he asked.

He pointed out that the knife came up at the earlier grand jury hearing but was absent from her testimony at trial.

“That happened in the cabin. You had me so confused at grand jury because you were working backward,” Donlon told Kalytiak. “I was confused, I was scared and nervous.”

Kalytiak also asked about her feelings on domestic violence.

“Did you ever tell anyone they were stupid for staying in an abusive relationship because you would never do that?” Kalytiak asked.

Donlon’s testimony seemed to be that was a thought she had at the time when talking to an abused woman, one she didn’t voice then but later described to a psychologist.

“Why does she put up with it, that was your statement about that issue,” Kalytiak said.

“Right,” Donlon said.

Kalytiak also asked Donlon about her mother-in-law, with whom she’s currently in a federal lawsuit over who is entitled to the $400,000 life insurance policy her husband had.

Donlon said she didn’t know about it until after her husband’s death, but that she knew about a policy he had in 2006.

“You did testify at grand jury that you felt awkward filing for that insurance,” Kalytiak said.

Donlon said she did. Then Kalytiak turned to the lawsuit. Donlon told him that from all appearances her mother-in-law loved Donlon’s children. Kalytiak asked Donlon what she planned to do with the money if she won the lawsuit.

“I would put it in a trust fund for them,” she said, referring to her children.

But what about Donlon’s mother-in-law?

“You don’t think she would do the same?” Kalytiak asked.

Before Donlon could answer, her attorney objected and Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen stopped the line of questioning.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.