FORT EDWARD — Triple-murder suspect Matthew A. Slocum admitted
shooting his mother and stepfather as they slept in bed before
turning a shotgun on his stepbrother as he slept on a nearby floor,
court records allege.

Slocum told investigators from the State Police and Washington
County Sheriff’s Office that he then took a can of gasoline stored
outside the family’s home by a wood splitter and set the building
on fire, according to statements filed Wednesday in Washington
County Court.

The documents were filed Wednesday morning after Slocum pleaded
not guilty to second-degree murder, arson and other lesser charges
in response to an 11-count indictment.

The Eagle Bridge man was sent to Washington County Jail without
bail after arraignment before Judge Kelly McKeighan.

He has been held in the jail since his arrest in July, and was
brought to court wearing a bulletproof vest.

Slocum, 24, is accused of killing his mother, stepfather and
stepbrother in their White Creek home and setting fire to the house
on July 13.

Prosecutors submitted in court a five-page list of statements
that Slocum is alleged to have made after he was taken into custody
in New Hampshire late on the night of July 13.

His lawyer, Washington County Public Defender Michael Mercure,
has claimed the questioning was illegal, and in the recitation of
statements, police acknowledged that when they asked Slocum if he
believed he needed a lawyer, he replied, “Yeah, probably.”

The officers then spoke to him and found out that he had been
represented by the county public defender’s office in an unrelated
case.

Police wrote that he told them he “shotgunned” his mother.

According to court records, Slocum was asked by the
investigators what prompted the killings, and he replied,
“Nothing.”

Asked if his mother had asked him, his girlfriend and their
young child to move out of the home, he replied, “No.”

Asked what kind of gun he shot the victims with, he replied,
“shotgun,” the records show.

He then added, “I’m not gonna say it, what I did, I’m not gonna
say it.”

He told the officers he was always angry, and “I should have
been killed at birth.”

“(Age) 10 or 11, I knew I could kill somebody and not even care
about it,” Slocum was quoted as saying.

Slocum was initially brought to court for arguments on a motion
Mercure filed Tuesday that sought to have Slocum released from jail
over a claim of a procedural error. The error involved the length
of time it took to file an indictment.

That motion was withdrawn after the indictment was handed up
Wednesday morning, with Washington County District Attorney Kevin
Kortright calling the request “frivolous.”

He said the 45-day time period for an indictment was exceeded by
two days because of a wait for laboratory tests on evidence and
witness scheduling issues.

“It was normal processing of a murder,” Kortright said.

Mercure defended the motion after the hearing, saying his office
wanted to “keep things moving” with the case and the law required
the 45-day deadline be met.

“We did not anticipate he would be released,” Mercure said.

The grand jury indictment includes counts of second-degree
murder, third-degree arson and multiple counts of grand larceny and
attempted grand larceny for the theft of his mother’s car,
stepfather’s guns and cellphones.

Slocum faces charges for the July 13 shooting deaths of his
44-year-old mother, Lisa Harrington; her husband, Dan A.
Harrington, 41; and Dan Harrington’s son, Joshua P. O’Brien, 24.
They were killed in their Turnpike Road, White Creek home.

Several relatives of the victims were in court for the
arraignment, and they declined to talk to news media
representatives as they left.

Kortright said no plea talks have been held. Mercure has
previously said a so-called “insanity defense” was likely, but he
said Wednesday that “all of the defendant’s options are open.”

The case was adjourned until Dec. 16.