July 25, 2011

Fugitive being held in Maine prison dies

Shaun Corson, 33, accused of killing his girlfriend in Florida, apparently hanged himself, an official says.

By DAVID ROBINSON Morning Sentinel

WARREN - A Madison man who was arrested this month as a fugitive from justice in connection with a Florida homicide died Saturday at the state prison in Warren, according to the Maine Department of Corrections.

click image to enlarge

Shaun Corson

Shaun D. Corson, 33, appeared to have hanged himself in his cell.

Associate Corrections Commissioner Jody Breton said in a news release that Corson died at the prison about 1 p.m. Saturday. Maine State Police and the medical examiner were notified Saturday, and both were reviewing the death, Breton said Sunday.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said Sunday that the death is a suspected suicide. "He was found hanging in his cell," McCausland said.

It's unclear what Corson used to hang himself, but that is being investigated, McCausland said. He said he didn't have any other details about the circumstances of the death.

Corson's body was taken to the morgue in Augusta, and the state Medical Examiner's Office plans to conduct an autopsy, said Cindy Elliott, a representative of the examiner's office.

Breton said she could not comment Sunday on the prison staff's response to Corson's death. She described the procedure that prison employees follow when an inmate has a medical problem.

There is at least one registered nurse on duty at a state prison facility at all times, Breton said. Doctors work at the prisons periodically, and someone from the on-site medical staff is called whenever corrections officers find an inmate having a medical problem, she said.

Corson had appeared in District Court in Skowhegan earlier this month on a fugitive from justice warrant from Jacksonville, Fla., where he is accused of killing his girlfriend, Stephanie Ann Slevin, 31, and stealing her car.

The listed only a charge of grand theft auto, but District Attorney Evert Fowle has said Corson is also charged with Slevin's homicide.

At the Skowhegan court appearance, Corson was ordered to serve the remaining three years of a suspended sentence on a Maine probation stemming from a 2002 arson, in which he was convicted of burning down his then-girlfriend's house in Anson. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but four years suspended, and six years of probation.

He also was facing extradition to Florida on several charges. Fowle has said the process could have taken months, requiring an agreement between the governors of Florida and Maine, which Corson could have contested in court.

In a video arraignment July 8, Corson said he planned to fight extradition. He had been transferred from the Somerset County jail to the state prison July 18 after the probation revocation, according to Breton.

Corson's mother, Sandra Walker, declined to comment Sunday on her son's death. 

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Doug Harlow contributed to this report. 

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer David Robinson can be contacted at 861-9287 or:

drobinson@centralmaine.com

 

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