Maine’s highest court is denying an appeal from a woman convicted of aiding her husband’s sexual abuse of a preteen girl.
Christal Gagnier appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court arguing that a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse from husband Michael Gagnier produced a climate of fear that rendered her incapable of helping the victim.
The court ruled on Tuesday that Gagnier needed to provide evidence that she was faced with a threat of “immediate harm.” The ruling says no evidence of such a threat was presented during trial.
Gagnier was sentenced to three years in prison last June. Prosecutors charged that she gave the victim an antibiotic to treat a sexually transmitted disease and hid evidence of repeated sexual assaults. Michael Gagnier was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.