AUGUSTA — Claudia Viles’ embezzlement conviction, Wade Hoover’s child sex abuse sentence and Donald Beauchene’s efforts to get out of the Riverview Psychiatric Center are among the appeals due for oral arguments this week in Augusta.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear them as well as a number of other cases during a four-day session this week in the ceremonial courtroom accessed through the Capital Judicial Center.
The session kicks off at 9 a.m. Tuesday with Beauchene’s bid to be freed from state custody.
Beauchene, now 73, was found not guilty by reason of insanity of the 1969 killing of Bernadine Israelson in Portland, and is appealing an order denying his bid to get out of a state psychiatric hospital.
Beauchene’s attorney, Rory McNamara, says in her written briefs that Beauchene suffers from antisocial personality disorder.
“There is perhaps no more infamous an individual in the hospital than petitioner,” McNamara wrote. “For years, those who treat and evaluate him have exaggerated (Beauchene’s) criminal past. It is inconceivable that this myth hasn’t influenced providers’ recommendations to the court regarding petitioner’s suitability for discharge or release.”
The state, represented by Assistant Attorney General Laura Yustak, asks the Law Court to uphold Justice Robert Mullen’s order keeping Beauchene in Riverview.
Beauchene, who escaped twice from Riverview’s predecessor, the Augusta Mental Health Institute, spent 15 years in prison in New York for rape and sodomy after his second escape, and then five years in a Maine prison for the hospital escape.
Seamon appeals conviction
At 9:50 a.m. Tuesday, the court will hear an appeal involving Andrew Seamon of Augusta, who was convicted on Sept. 1, 2016 of unlawful sexual contact that occurred May 31, 2012-May 31, 2013, in Augusta.
The same Kennebec County jury cleared him of one count of gross sexual assault and deadlocked on a second count, which resulted in a mistrial.
Seamon is appealing both his conviction and his sentence.
Seamon, 50, was sentenced to an initial six years in prison, with the remainder of the nine-year sentence suspended while he serves 12 years of probation.
Seamon, through attorney Caitlin Ross Wahrer, maintains statements he made to Augusta police Detective Tori Tracy should have been suppressed and that Seamon’s classification under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act was incorrect.
The victim, a boy who was 8 years old at the time of the offense, spent two hours testifying at the trial.
Rome land dispute
At 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, the court will hear an appeal in a civil case involving a land dispute along Great Pond in Rome.
Ricky and Monica Conant, through attorneys Catherine Connors and Jared des Rosiers, want the court to vacate a decision granting neighbor Peter M. Beckerman a right of way across their land to access South Crane Lane, and via that, Jamaica Point Road.
The Conants maintain that a “1978 deed does not create a right-of-way across the Conants Lot.”
Viles argues lack of evidence
At 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, the court expects to hear an appeal in the case of former Anson Treasurer Claudia Viles, who was convicted of embezzling money from the town.
Viles was convicted on June 22, 2016 of theft and tampering with public records or information as well as 11 counts of failure to make or file tax returns.
She was sentenced on Sept. 2, 2016 to serve an initial five years in prison, and the remaining three years were suspended while she is on three years of probation. She also was ordered to pay $566,257 in restitution to the town of Anson.
Hoover appeals sentence
At 9 a.m. Thursday, Wade Hoover, a former martial arts instructor from Augusta already serving 40 years in prison on federal convictions for producing and possessing child pornography, some of it showing him abusing two boys under age 12, is appealing his 60-year state sentence for raping the boys in Kennebec County and Somerset County.
The state offenses occurred from December 2008 to April 2012. Hoover’s recordings of those attacks allowed authorities to identify him. Hoover pleaded guilty to those attacks and was sentenced on Feb. 24, 2016, at the Capital Judicial Center.
Hoover’s attorney, Scott Hess, is appealing the state sentence on grounds that it is a “de facto life sentence” and therefore required a judge to specify special aggravating factors, and that the sentence is excessive.
Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: betadams
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