NORRISTOWN — A Perkiomen Township man accused of using a hammer to fatally beat his girlfriend will wage a voluntary intoxication defense at trial to fight the prosecution’s contention that he had a specific intent to kill and to reduce the degree of homicide.
William Roy Carey Jr., 47, of the 500 block of Gravel Pike, who is charged with first- and third-degree murder, informed Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein of his defense strategy on Friday during a final pretrial hearing before his trial begins next Tuesday in connection with the alleged Nov. 1, 2024, fatal beating of his girlfriend, Jessica Zipkin, during a domestic disturbance inside the Gravel Pike apartment.
During extensive and careful questioning by the judge, Carey said he wanted his lawyers to be permitted to introduce evidence that he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the killing. Defense lawyers Joseph Schultz and Scott Frank Frame explained the evidence will be offered for the limited purpose of negating the element of specific intent to kill, which is a requirement for the first-degree murder conviction being sought by prosecutors…