AUGUSTA — A Wayne man charged with throwing his infant son down the stairs will be freed on bail, over the objections of prosecutors, until his trial on assault and other charges.

William Goodhue Lord, 40, has had his trial rescheduled several times in the past few months for various reasons, including witness availability. His bail had been revoked July 20 for violation of conditions.

At a Thursday hearing at the Capital Judicial Center, Justice Robert Mullen set jury selection for Jan. 7, with testimony beginning the following Monday. Mullen said he wanted to revisit the issue of bail, “in fairness to Mr. Lord and in fairness to the whole process.” Lord will stay with his parents in Connecticut until trial.

Assistant District Attorney Kristin Murray-James asked the judge to continue to have Lord held without bail.

“These are incredibly serious charges,” she said.

She said bail was revoked after Lord left the state and failed to provide notification of a change of address, and after he was found in possession of alcohol.

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Murray-James also said the mother of the baby, who was 3 months old when the incident occurred, was concerned that Lord would come after her if he was freed.

Lord’s attorney, Robert Ruffner, said prior bail conditions had not prohibited Lord from leaving the state, and that he had returned to Maine of his own accord. Ruffner also said Lord had no prior criminal record.

Mullen set bail at just under $5,000 cash with conditions requiring Lord to check in three days a week with his defense attorney and adhere to a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.

Lord is prohibited from possessing alcohol and weapons and from contact with the victims named in the charges and several of their family members.

Ruffner told the judge that Lord could be freed from jail Thursday night and his brother would drive him immediately to Connecticut.

Lord initially was arrested in October 2014 on charges of aggravated assault, domestic violence assault on a child less than 6 years old, domestic violence terrorizing and marijuana cultivation. The charges say he caused bodily injury to his 3-month-old son and threatened the child’s mother. They also say he cultivated 100 or more marijuana plants, also in Wayne.

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He was freed on $5,000 bail on Nov. 29, 2014, but arrested again on April 12, 2015, after police conducted a bail check and found he had just returned a trip to Connecticut and had beer in his vehicle. Bail conditions required Lord to notify the court of address changes and prohibited him from possessing alcohol.

In the Riverview incident, Lord was the nurse on duty in the Lower Saco Unit in 2013 when patient Arlene Edson was pepper-sprayed. A complaint about the incident, which two nurses investigated on the state’s behalf, “was substantiated for abuse and for inappropriate use of restraints.”

Lord’s license as a registered nurse has been placed on inactive status pending his trial.

 


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