By Sandy Hodson
The Augusta Chronicle
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Zackary Quick was working the late shift as a correctional officer at the Augusta State Medical Prison on July 6, 2013, when inmate Thomas Tiraboschi approached him at 3 a.m., two hours after prisoners are supposed to be locked in their cells.
“Pardon me, officer, but I just killed my roommate,” Quick quoted Tiraboschi as saying. Quick immediately asked him “Why?” Tiraboschi, eating from a snack bag of potato chips, responded: “I helped him by choking him to death.”
Testimony began Tuesday in the murder trial of Tiraboschi, who has maintained that the roommate, 48-year-old Chris Lowerly, was in pain and wanted to die. Tiraboschi, 37, has pleaded not guilty.
In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney John Markwalter told the jury that Tiraboschi’s cavalier attitude about killing someone dates back 18 years, when he killed someone for just driving down a Peach County road.
In her opening statement, defense attorney Katrell Nash asked the jury to listen to all the evidence about Lowerly’s extensive medical problems, and his repeated complaints that he was in agony with chest pains despite having been seen by a physician assistant the night of July 5, 2013.
Claude Lett, the PA, testified he treated Lowerly that night. He ran an EKG on Lowerly and didn’t believe he was experiencing an adverse cardiac event. He gave Lowerly a medicine to treat digestion problems. Lowerly had already taken nitroglycerin before he came to the clinic and nitroglycerin usually reduces or eliminates chest pain, Lett testified.
Two witnesses who were correctional officers at the prison in July 2013 testified that Lowerly and Tiraboschi both repeatedly asked for medical help for Lowerly after he went to the clinic but continued to suffer. Both officers testified they called the medical unit but Lowerly was refused for another visit to the medical unit.