maxwell

As Lynn and Lindsey Maxwell walked out of Palermo Town Court Saturday night to the State Police vehicles that would take them to jail, a pack of reporters moved with them while townspeople who had attended court faithfully for the last two weeks formed a gauntlet of eyes.

“What’s your reaction?” asked one reporter.  “How you feeling right now, Lynn?” asked another.  The Maxwells had spoken often with reporters on breaks in the trial. Tonight, they said nothing.

Lynn Maxwell asserted that Erin Maxwell was never endangered by the smell of the urine of more than 60 cats and by bedroom doors that locked on the outside.

“There was nothing,” she said as prosecutor Mark Moody grilled her, “that was a threat to her.”

Lynn Maxwell offered at least three reasons for having locks on the outside of stepdaughter Erin Maxwell’s door.

Lynn Maxwell took the witness stand after the prosecution rested its case of more than 20 hours of testimony alleging that Lynn and husband Lindsey Maxwell endangered 11 year old Erin’s life by keeping her in a home with widespread cat feces and a thick odor of cat urine and by keeping her in a room with locks on the outside of the two doors.