Christopher McCullough (WRAL/YouTube).
A man in North Carolina has been found guilty by jurors of killing his mother and causing harm to his father during an attack that he said was due to drug use and lack of sleep.
The man, Christopher McCullough, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Mary McCullough, in 2023. Local news source WTVD mentioned that McCullough was not found guilty of some other offenses, such as trying to kill his father and stealing a dog.
He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The jury had deliberated for around seven hours after receiving the case on Thursday.
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John McCullough, the defendant’s father, gave evidence against his son. As per a court report by local CBS affiliate WNCN, the father informed the jurors that since his son was young, he displayed uncontrollable violent behavior and unusual strength. They attempted various methods to help him, including sending him to boarding school and mental health facilities, but none of them were successful. Eventually, they had to obtain a restraining order against him and bar him from entering their house.
But he ignored that order and entered the home on Aug. 8, 2023. He reportedly told jurors he was high on Adderall and other drugs and hadn’t slept in six days. He said he asked his parents for gas money. When they refused, he began beating his father — all in the presence of his 4-year-old son — though he did not admit to hurting his sickly mother, who used an oxygen tank and weighed just 100 pounds.
“Me and my dad got in a fight, I struck him twice to the ground, I noticed that my mother was face down,” he said, according to local NBC affiliate WRAL.
The younger McCullough then took his son and fled. Cops rushed to the home to aid the elder McCulloughs. There was blood everywhere and both victims were unconscious, cops testified.
“I noticed she had bruises and cuts on her arms,” Raleigh police Officer Phillip Merle said, per WNCN. “Because of the way she was laying, I noticed she had a large puddle of blood underneath her neck. My training officer asked who did this to her. And she was able to grunt out, ‘My son’.”
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She was rushed to the hospital where she died nearly a week later.
Christopher McCullough’s son, now 6, was not physically injured in the incident but has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder from witnessing the incident.
“[The boy] has disclosed witnessing the defendant hurting nanny and poppy,” his therapist Tara Pawlyk reportedly testified. “That poppy was on the ground while the defendant covered his mouth, limiting his ability to breathe. He has also disclosed nanny was laying on the stairs, [which] the defendant had bashed her head against repeatedly.”
“John came at him the wrong way,” Elmore reportedly said during closing arguments. “His flight-or-fight clicked in and he started assaulting John.”
But no matter his state of mind, prosecutors argued, there was no excuse to kill a woman whom he supposedly loved.
“If that is a momma’s boy that left his mom for dead that way, God help that mom,” prosecutor Melanie Shekita told the jury during her closing arguments.
