Breaking News! ME Bar Counsel Recommends Discipline for ADA Mary N. Kellett

April 12th, 2012 by Robert Franklin, Esq.

The attorney for the Board of Overseers of the Maine State Bar has recommended that Assistant District Attorney Mary N. Kellett be disciplined for her legal and ethical misconduct in her prosecution of Vladek Filler. On April 6, 2012, Bar Counsel J. Scott Davis recommended discipline for Kellett based on her violation of nine separate codes of conduct for Maine attorneys. As readers of this blog will recall, Vladek Filler is the father who was accusedby his wife Ligia Filler, during the course of their custody battle, of sexual assault and child abuse. Despite the complete absence of evidence against him apart from his wife’s say-so, ADA Mary Kellett not only prosecuted Filler, but violated numerous ethical codes in doing so. She managed to get a conviction which was overturned by the trial court due to her prosecutorial misconduct. Amazingly, despite having been convicted of sexual assault, the Maine family court gave Vladek custody of his two children before the conviction was overturned. It did so because it was clear to all – the police and the judge – that Vladek was a good and responsible father and that Ligia had severe mental/emotional problems. I say it was “clear to all,” but that doesn’t include Kellett who prosecuted a clearly innocent man. At his retrial, Vladek was convicted of a single misdemeanor count of throwing water on his wife. That the Ellsworth, Maine district attorney’s office would pursue such a case through two separate trials plus appeals speaks volumes about (a) Mary Kellett’s anti-father bias and (b) the DA’s Office’s willingness to waste taxpayer funds for the sole purpose of covering up Kellett’s bias. After all, why else would the DA prosecute a man for allegedly tossing water on his wife? Kellett’s conduct of her prosecution of Vladek Filler was truly egregious. Although prosecutors are required by law to turn over evidence to the defendant’s counsel, Kellett refused despite being requested to do so multiple times by Filler’s attorney, Daniel Pileggi. Worse, she told Pileggi to get the records himself from the various police agencies that had possession of them. That’s clearly an ethical violation, but what I’d call a criminal one came next. Having told Pileggi to contact the police, she then told the police to refuse to comply with Pileggi’s subpoenas. Eventually, Pileggi got the court to order her to produce the documents, audio and videotapes, but Kellett simply ignored the order. At trial, Kellett engaged in multiple acts of prosecutorial misconduct mostly involving her argument to the jury that was based on “facts” she hadn’t put into evidence. The 18-page findings of the Bar Counsel against Kellett are all about her attempt to railroad Vladek Filler into prison, deprive two children of their fine and loving father and place them in the hands of an unstable mother. The case was about Kellett’s using her office to promote the cause of a mother in a custody case. But, as we’ve seen before, Kellett’s misbehavior is scarcely confined to the Filler case. Indeed, time and again in the past, appellate courts have overturned convictions of men when allegations of sexual misconduct have been levelled at them by Kellett. Put simply, Kellett seems to have a mission in life – putting men behind bars for sexual offenses whether they committed them or not. Her prosecutorial misconduct is well known. Therefore, whoever else has experienced what Vladek Filler has at the hands of Mary N. Kellett, should now come forward and file a grievance with the Overseers of the Maine State Bar. She’s a loose cannon and needs to find another job. Further, I’d like to know if Maine has a statute providing for appointment of an independent or special prosecutor. Some states do and Mary Kellett needs to be prosecuted for her apparently criminal behavior toward Vladek Filler. Specifically, instructing the police to withhold evidence from a defendant in a criminal case looks like a criminal act to me. Obviously, the District Attorney of Ellsworth likely won’t prosecute one of his/her own lawyers, but, if there’s an independent prosecutor statute, someone else can. They can and should. In the meantime, congratulations to J. Scott Davis for recommending that Mary N. Kellett be disciplined by the Overseers of the Bar. We’ll see how it turns out.

http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/2012/04/12

Bangor Daily News

[Assistant DA Mary Kellett] said that it could be difficult to find jurors for sex cases [in the Hancock County district] because many people have been victims of sex offenses or have been accused of committing them.

http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/

Sexual Assault Response Team Gives Victims Humane Support

Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett, who prosecutes sex crimes, held a press conference at the Hancock County Courthouse Monday to introduce the sexual assault response team program. Kellett said victims can be confused about whether a crime has occurred because the majority of sexual assaults occur with someone the victim knows. The district attorney's office wants to educate the public about the sexual assault response program because no one sees oneself as a victim, Kellett said.

http://ellsworthamerican.com/

There are now 1,274 signatures calling for Disbarment of Prosecutor Mary N. Kellett

Greg Peterson “I have reviewed the materials submitted by SAVE to the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, District Attorney Carletta M. Bassano and Attorney General William J. Schneider. I am licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and have practiced law for over 25 years. My wife has numerous family members who live, work and own a business in Maine and we visit Maine regularly. Our oldest daughter long held a Registered Maine Guide License. To this lawyer's eyes, this record smells to high heaven of prosecutorial misconduct. How this prosecution has been allowed to continue this long is unfathomable. That it has, has caused me to have second thoughts about the quality of the bar in Maine, the quality of bar oversight in Maine, and the quality of law enforcement in Maine. It is noteworthy that both the Trial Court and the Maine SJC took a pronounced, dim view of the prosecutor's actions in this case. That the prosector appealed the new trial order to the Maine SJC certainly strikes one as unusual. That the prosecution has continued on this record even after the rebuke from the Maine SJC is appalling. I urge you to do justice in this case and make it clear that all persons who live or visit Maine will receive equal protection of the law, without discrimination, and that prosecutors in Maine are expected to be honest prosecutors, and not persecutors.” http://www.change.org/petitions

Petitions by Change.org| Start a Petition » If Petition does not load please click Disbar Assistant DA Mary Kellett

The total number of recent unjustified sexual misconduct prosecutions by Mary Kellett and Hancock County DA's office in this tiny community is unknown.  Below are just some of the cases which have been publicized.

No local articles have been published about prosecutorial abuse of innocent men with absolutely no credible evidence.

State of Maine vs. Nathaniel Sargent

WINDHAM, Maine — Nathaniel Sargent could have been a free man in less than a year. But his short stint behind bars would have come with a price he considered too high: 10 years of public shame on the state’s online sex offender registry. Rather than bear the burden that comes with that label, Sargent accepted a four-year prison sentence on a more serious charge. But, in his mind, Sargent is not a sex offender, a label that has become synonymous with monsters and predators like a modern day branding mark. A misdemeanor charge of sexual abuse of a minor was what worried Sargent more than the threat of a lengthy jail sentence. Sargent’s attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker, and Hancock County prosecutor Mary Kellett agreed to a plea deal in which the state would drop the sex charge, and the eventual registry requirement, if he pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge. “I would have been in the same category with pedophiles and rapists,” Sargent said. “That’s not right.” Yes, he engaged in a sex act with a 14-year-old girl when he was 21. Yes, he exhibited bad judgment. But the sex was consensual, he said. And after three weeks dating the girl, Sargent realized he was in a lose-lose situation. “I was like, I can’t do this,” he said. “By then it was too late.” He moved on. The girl’s parents did not. They filed charges.

Man pressured to plead guilty and serve 4 years in prison for a made up charge of aggravated assault under pressure from assistant district attorney Mary Kellett of being prosecuted for a sex crime, be branded a child molester, and placed on a sex offender registry for 10 years for having consensual sex with his under aged girlfriend.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/04/15

State of Maine vs. Joseph Audette

On Thursday, a Superior Court justice in Ellsworth dismissed all restrictions on Audette, 30,..[who] has been free on bail since early October after being arrested for possession of sexually explicit materials featuring children under the age of 12, a Class C felony. Audette had been prohibited from having any contact with children under age 18 and initially was banned from accessing the Internet...Mary Kellett, an assistant district attorney in Hancock County, declined to discuss the potential case against Audette other than to say that the investigation is continuing. “Sometimes it takes a while to investigate a case,” Kellett said. ...Audette’s computer allegedly had animation — commonly known as “anime”...which [investigator] said is illegal under federal law but not under Maine law.

Another life and career ruined by Mary Kellett’s obscene abuse of discretion. This school computer tech was arrested and his picture and charges of child pornography were widely publicized in newspapers and on television. The community held public meetings to discuss safety of local school children in the wake of his arrest. A few weeks after the media blitz, which involved law enforcement press releases, the charges against him were dropped by a judge. The “child pornography” allegedly turned out to be cartoon characters on a computer. The images neither involved children nor were illegal under State laws, but that did not stop Mary Kellett from rushing to publicly smear this man with charges involving child pornography.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/11/18/

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/29/

State of Maine vs. Forrest P. Wardwell

BAR HARBOR — A Blue Hill man faces multiple charges including assault and unlawful sexual contact following an allegedly violent altercation with his ex-girlfriend early Saturday. Police say Forrest P. Wardwell, 24, showed up uninvited at his ex-girlfriend’s Roberts Avenue apartment, crashing his vehicle into hers in the driveway during the early morning hours. The pair then fought, both orally and physically, with things becoming more heated when she tried to use her phone, police said...Mr. Wardwell also is alleged to have engaged in unlawful sexual contact with the victim. When arrested, Mr. Wardwell “had wounds to his face that were concurrent with someone clawing at him or defending themselves,” according to reports, and his shirt was torn.

Note: Mary Kellett's community newspaper immediately reports that the alleged accuser is "the victim" and the man's clear physical injuries from the assault being caused by her self defense.

http://fenceviewer.com

State of Maine vs. Steve M. Kane

“ELLSWORTH — A 48-year-old Bucksport man was indicted Thursday for alleged sex offenses … According to Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett, the girl was 12 and 13 years old when the alleged abuse occurred. The incidents began in August 2008 and continued through the spring of this year.”

More made up dates of violations in the Kane case: 8/15/08, 10/15/08, 1/15/09, 3/15/09, 6/15/09, 9/15/09, 1/15/10, 3/15/10, 8/15/10, 11/15/10, 3/15/11? "My job as the prosecutor is, I put a date in. You know, December 15th is just a date I chose....there has been no evidence presented to you as the jury that would suggest that a sexual act hadn't occurred on those dates" Mary Kellett told the jury in the Filler case.

http://fenceviewer.com

State of Maine vs. Keovilaisack Sayasane

“Another loss for Kellett in a case that never should have been pursued in the first place.” “Keovilaisack Sayasane was charged by Mary N. Kellett with “terrorizing, assault and criminal threatening” of his wife. But, as so often seems to happen, there were problems with Mary N. Kellett’s case. The biggest one was that the alleged victim, Sayasane’s wife, intended to testify on his behalf. Defense attorney Jeffrey Toothaker said he had expected Sayasane’s wife to testify favorably on his behalf July 20… “She was going to testify very favorably to get him out of trouble,” Toothaker said. But if you’re Mary N. Kellett, you don’t let a little thing like your only witness to the incident testifying for the defense get in your way. So she got creative. Two days before the trial was to start, the prosecution told the wife that Sayasane had killed his first wife, Toothaker said. The news “sent shivers up her spine, as it should,” he said. But there was just one thing wrong with that bit of information - it was a lie. “The suspension or disbarment of Mary N. Kellett would be richly deserved. It would also send a message to other prosecutors in Ellsworth, Maine, that her methods aren’t acceptable.”

***

According to a transcript of Sayasane’s July 20 trial, Toothaker and the prosecutor in the case, Assistant Hancock County District Attorney Mary Kellett, each told Justice Kevin Cuddy that the incorrect information was provided to Kellett by Deputy Attorney General William Stokes, head of the Attorney General’s Office’s criminal division.…On Thursday, however, Stokes said he never provided any information to Kellett that indicated that the victim in the manslaughter case was Sayasane’s previous wife, or even that the victim was a woman. Contacted Thursday, Kellett directed questions about the case to Carletta “Dee” Bassano, district attorney for Hancock and Washington counties.

http://www.fathersandfamilies.org

http://fenceviewer.com

http://bangordailynews.com

State of Maine vs. Vladek Filler

"based on statistics, it's absolutely accepted in the field of criminology that most people are victimized by people they know, by family members"

"My job as the prosecutor is, I put a date in.  You know, December 15th [2005] is just a date I chose to be in December before the school vacation.  It doesn't have, really, any significance except for to orient you about the time or place.  It's not an element of the crime."

"there has been no evidence presented to you as the jury that would suggest that a sexual act hadn't occurred on those dates"

"The evidence that you have is that evidence of the witnesses and the documents that have been presented, and those primarily include the testimony of Ligia Filler"

"Where is one piece of evidence about [a child custody fight]?"

"The suggestion that Ligia Filler has made this all up just for the purpose of getting ahead in the child custody, where is the evidence of that?"

"The State of Maine does not have an unending budget just to pursue things that are not relevant."

"when the State collects a rape kit in a case, that rape kit has to be sent to one place in Augusta that does the entire state of Maine, and those kits are -- we're waiting for evidence to come back, you know, eight, nine, ten months that it takes to get through that process"

"we do not have the resources"

"if we did [collect clothing, rape kits, all those things], what would that prove?"

"Custody Dispute?  Where is that?"

A sample of the statements made by Asst. DA Mary Kellett to the jury during the trail.  The court's pre-trial ruling barred the defense from presenting any evidence of the bitter child custody dispute, Ligia Filler's abusive conduct, and her long history.   Asst. DA Mary Kellett is guilty of Prosecutorial Misconduct for  misrepresenting the truth in order to convict an innocent man.

State of Maine vs. William G. Rich

William G. Rich, 25, had been accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy…the jury deliberated for roughly an hour and 15 minutes before deciding Rich was not guilty of the charge of gross sexual assault. The boy is developmentally disabled and has the intellectual capacity of a third- or fourth-grader, his mother testified Monday morning. William Hooker, a jail inmate serving time on a probation violation for a gross sexual assault conviction, also testified Monday, telling the jury that Rich had told him in jail in August 2010 that he had assaulted the boy… Rich said during his testimony that he never talked to Hooker about the allegations against him. Rich’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker of Ellsworth, suggested… Hooker was hoping to reduce the time he might spend behind bars when he contacted police to tell them of Rich’s supposed confession, the defense attorney said. [Prosecutor Mary] Kellett said Rich’s inconsistent statements suggested he might have something to hide. “Why the absolute denial?” Kellett said to the jury in her closing statement. “That’s an issue in terms of evaluating credibility.” After the trial ended, Kellett said she naturally was disappointed in the verdict. “These are difficult cases,” she said. [Defense attorney] Toothaker said after the trial that he was confident his client was innocent.

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/21/news

TalkLeft

Is Mary Kellett America's Foulest Prosecutor? Tonya Craft Cases in Maine Still after several months of mulling it over, we think Mary Kellett of Maine may have earned a name at the top of the ballot.

http://forums.talkleft.com

State of Maine vs. Michael Webber

ELLSWORTH — A Hancock County jury Tuesday found a Penobscot man not guilty of touching a teenage girl after giving her a ride home last July. The state had charged Michael Webber, 37, with unlawful sexual contact and assault — both misdemeanors… [Defense attorney] Juskewitch questioned the state’s accusation that Webber would be gratified touching a teenage girl’s leg while driving a pickup truck with his daughter asleep next to him in the front seat.

http://fenceviewer.com/site/

State of Maine vs. Michael J. Willis

Bangor man accused of assaulting and raping an ex-girlfriend.   Michael J. Willis, 29, was indicted April 8 on six counts of assault and three counts of gross sexual assault.  Court records state the assaults occurred in Blue Hill and Bar Harbor between Feb. 1, 2009, and Sept. 25, 2009.

http://www.fenceviewer.com/

State of Maine vs. Jerome P. Millay

ELLSWORTH — A Hancock County Superior Court jury returned a verdict of not guilty Friday for a Blue Hill man accused of unlawful sexual contact. "This was a marriage coming to an end and the allegations are made because the marriage is ending and not because of anything that happened 10 years ago," [defense attorney] Slater said.

http://www.fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content

***

Millay said that he has “missed his children terribly during this long and difficult separation.” He looks forward to renewing his role as father and friend to them now that the State is satisfied that he deserves this privilege. Millay further said, "I’m very relieved that my right as a parent has been fully restored and am hopeful that my sons and I will be able to quickly mend the damage that has been caused by our separation during this process."

http://www.weeklypacket.com/archives/2010/022510_stories/wp_milay_not_guilty_022510.html

State of Maine vs. Michael D. Manning

[Michael D. Manning] contends that he was denied a fair trial because of impermissible comments made by the prosecutor [Mary Kellett] during the State’s closing argument.

http://www.courts.state.me.us/maine_courts/supreme/oral_arguments.shtml

State of Maine vs. Joshua Busby

ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Mount Desert man was found innocent Thursday of forcing a woman to have sex after they consumed alcohol at a social gathering two years ago.

"Obviously, I’m very thrilled for Josh. He’s been worried about [the trial],” Foster said. “He busted out crying when he heard the verdict."

Mary Kellett, assistant Hancock County district attorney, agreed that testimony of others at the party probably influenced the jury’s decision. They said that the woman was being friendly with Busby throughout the night and again the next morning, after they all woke up in the same house.

Kellett said rape cases that may hinge on one person’s word being weighed against another’s often are tough to try in court.

Kellett said if there is a wider lesson to be learned from the trial, it is that getting drunk to the point of passing out or having a cloudy memory can have consequences.

"Clearly, the amount they had to drink would have affected their behavior," Kellett said. "These are people drinking to the point of excess at a very young age. Bad things happen."

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/132590.html

***

[defense] attorney, Matthew Foster of Ellsworth said in his opening statement to the jury that the sex was consensual. He said that after the incident, the victim became concerned that a person she was dating would find out and so made up the story about the alleged assault.

The victim did not act like someone who had been raped, Foster said. She continued to hang out with Busby, who had a corresponding mark on his neck after the encounter, and even shared a bed with him again, though without having sex a second time.

During the alleged assault, another woman opened a door to the room where Busby and the woman were having sex and both Busby and the alleged victim told her to leave, according to the defense attorney.

In her opening statement to the jury, Assistant Hancock County District Attorney Mary Kellett told the jury that a person does not have to physically resist a sexual assault in order to be a rape victim.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/132485.html

State of Maine vs. Francis X. Lynch

Francis X. Lynch, 74, Sedgwick. Indicted on a charge of Unlawful Sexual Contact  Oct. 6, 2007, in Sedgwick and tried by Mary Kellett in September 2009 was found NOT GUILTY.

No articles written about the acquittal

Grand Jury Indicts 4 on Sex Offenses

ELLSWORTH — A Hancock County grand jury indicted 21 people Tuesday. Four of the indictments were in connection with alleged sex offenses

http://ellsworthmaine.com/

State of Maine vs. Raymond Currier

After deliberating part of Thursday and about 2½ hours Friday morning, the jury of eight women and six men found Raymond L. Currier, 56, not guilty on all counts. Currier had been charged [by Mary Kellett] with 20 counts of assault, unlawful sexual contact and unlawful sexual touching.

Defense attorney Stephen Juskewitch of Ellsworth argued in his opening remarks Wednesday that the [16 year old step daughter] had fabricated the allegations in order to avoid punishment for misbehavior at home. Among the household rules the girl violated, according to Juskewitch, were taking money to school, stealing money from her mother and lying.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/106170.html

State of Maine vs. Michael D. Weber

The state had charged Michael D. Weber, 35, with seven counts of gross sexual assault and seven counts of unlawful sexual contact.

Defense attorney Steven Juskewitch argued that the girls’ accusations were brought in an attempt to keep Weber from gaining custody of a daughter he had with his ex-wife.

"Absent the stories" told by the stepdaughters, Juskewitch said, the girl "would be with her natural father."

"Once you found out that she was better off with her father — that was upsetting?" Juskewitch asked the girl, who nodded yes.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett was the prosecutor.

On July 1, Juskewitch questioned why his client was even tried.

"There were prior court decisions on the civil side that said the allegations were not credible and Mary [Kellett] went with the indictment anyway," Juskewitch said. "These allegations didn’t even meet the "more likely than not" standards and the state went ahead with the same evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt."

Juskewitch said during the case that Weber and his young daughter had to go for three months without seeing each other or speaking on the phone.

The state had imposed bail conditions forbidding Weber to have contact with any person under the age of 16, including Weber’s own daughter, Juskewitch said.

The defense attorney said he tried twice to get the conditions amended to exclude the daughter but the request was denied twice, the first time without a hearing.

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php/2008070315509/Law/Man-Accused-of-Sexually-Assaulting-Stepdaughters-Acquitted.html

State of Maine vs. Christopher Gilley

"From the beginning, we thought it was an incredibly weak case," said [Defense Attorney] Largay. "We were just very surprised with the only evidence the state had that they brought these charges at all."

"Everyone accused of this has a moral taint difficult to overcome in the public eye," he said.

However, prosecuting attorney Mary Kellett presented no physical evidence to the jury.

Neither the girl nor her clothing were examined after she made the report.

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php/2007121311786/Latest/Franklin-Man-Acquitted-of-Rape.html

State of Maine vs. Brian J. Clough

Brian J. Clough, 20, was charged with assault after the alleged incident May 30, 2007.

The [10 year old] girl never identified Clough in a photo lineup, [Defense Attorney] Juskewitch said.

Juskewitch repeated to the judge that the girl described the man as "an old man in his 60s."

"They were able to come up with [20 year old] Brian in a gray sweatshirt and hat," said Juskewitch.

Prosecuting attorney Mary Kellett questioned the girl about her description of the man.

"What was it about the man that made you think he was 60?" Kellett asked.

"I saw wrinkles," the girl said.

The case has "three tragedies," said Juskewitch.

The first is that a 10-year-old girl was molested in Wal-Mart. The second, "we don’t know who did it," he said. And lastly, an innocent person was charged with the crime, he said.

Kellett did not return a call seeking comment before press time.

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php/2008041714110/Law/Gouldsboro-Man-Charged-With-Assualt-Is-Not-Guilty.html

State of Maine vs. Scott Oakes

"That was one of the most graphic trials I’ve heard," said Oakes’ attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker.

According to Toothaker, the woman’s testimony was inconsistent and led to the verdict.

If Oakes "had decided to get back together with her we wouldn’t have been here today," he said after the trial. "She knew what she was doing when she went to his place every day."

"I don’t buy the ‘she likes it, she wanted it’ defense," said Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett. "There was consensual behavior and then there was behavior that occurred out of anger."

Oakes has been in custody since January.

http://www.bangornews.com

State of Maine vs. George Gray

"Defense attorney Andrew Slater said that although investigators did a good job in collecting evidence in the case, that evidence did not prove his client had committed the crime."

"Putting that young lady through the emotional trauma of a trial when the evidence clearly did not warrant it is outrageous," Slater said. "The state never claims the responsibility for the harm it does to children."

"You’re often dealing with the issue of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’" [Mary] Kellet said. "In this type of case, there is no physical evidence to present. It comes down to one person’s word against another’s. It’s not easy for a jury to find a person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

"I am an advocate, not a judge," [Mary Kellett] said.

[George Gray] has been held in jail for 10 months awaiting trial.

http://bangornews.com/detail/51374.html

State of Maine vs. Larry S. Birmingham

Two years later, in 2005, police interviewed the girl again, at which point the District Attorney’s Office brought charges against Birmingham.

"The delay was based on the fact that the victim was very limited," said Kellett. Kellett described the girl as “mildly retarded.”

[The girl] frequently gave one-word replies during the testimony or said, "I don’t know."

[Defense Attorney] Toothaker told the jury in his closing remarks that the police officer had asked the girl "leading questions."

Kellett advised the jury that the legislature took away the statute of limitations when a sex crime victim is under age 16.

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php/200611165253/Law/Fla.-Man-Found-Not-Guilty-Of-Rape-in-Lamoine-Case.htm

State of Maine vs. Shawn A. Robinson

Shawn A. Robinson, 18, of Ellsworth was cleared on a charge of Class A gross sexual assault after a jury of four men and eight women deliberated for about five hours.

The verdict culminated a two-day trial that featured testimony from the alleged victim as well as witnesses who gave differing accounts of what happened.

"Of course, I always like to get a guilty verdict, but the jury certainly spent a long time considering the case, which shows they put in a lot of effort," [Mary] Kellett said.

The alleged victim testified in court on Monday that she and Robinson became acquainted more than a year ago when they spent time together at KidsPeace, a residential facility for teens in Ellsworth.

They even dated briefly, she said, but mostly were close friends.

Toothaker, however, called witnesses who were at the house at the time of the alleged assault. All testified that the young woman did not seem upset and the two emerged from the bedroom.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/hancock.aspx?articleid=154711&z..178

State of Maine vs. Raymond Currier

The state has been ordered to provide a recording of a forensic interview of an alleged sexual assault victim to a defense attorney.

Juskewitch is defending Raymond Currier of Dedham, who has been indicted on seven counts of assault, 10 counts of unlawful sexual contact and three counts of unlawful sexual touching.

"I’ve reviewed it once," said Juskewitch. "I’d like to review it with experts. I think there are some significant lapses in protocol for conducting the forensic interview."

"We don’t like to release those tapes," said prosecuting attorney Mary Kellett. "We want to keep close control over these."

[Justice] Hjelm said this is the first time he has encountered this issue.

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php/200705037800/Law/Judge-Allows-Defense-to-Obtain-Copy-Of-Interview.html

State of Maine vs. Dale L Martin

Man found innocent of rape, kidnapping Jury deliberates 2 hours in Ellsworth case

"I believe justice was done," Steven Juskewitch of Ellsworth, Martin's attorney, said after the verdict was announced. "Unfortunately, it took 111/2 months of an innocent man being held in jail."

Martin had been held in jail since his arrest last July because he was unable to make his bail of $5,000 cash or $25,000 surety, according to Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bangor/access/347799121.html?

State of Maine vs. Lawrence P. Rotta

Otis man found innocent of sexually assaulting woman

"After a while, she started saying 'no,'" [Lawrence P. Rotta] said. "I stopped and put my clothes back on." Rotta said that the woman stayed the night and that they had sex the next morning. The woman never objected the next morning, Rotta said, and he never forced her to have sex or threatened her with force.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bangor/access/92526955.html

More cases will be listed soon.