BELFAST — The sentencing of a man convicted on several counts of sexual assault was delayed Wednesday, marking the eighth time his sentencing has been postponed because of disagreements and confrontations with defense lawyers who had attempted to represent him.
Wade Drew Brayman, 64, was arrested in 2019 and charged with seven counts of gross sexual assault, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of failure to comply with the sex offender registry.
He was convicted in March of repeatedly raping and assaulting a juvenile several years earlier at his home in Liberty. Brayman has a work history that includes jobs at food pantries in Greater Waterville.
In the years since he was first arrested, all eight lawyers appointed by the court to represent Brayman have withdrawn from the case, saying Brayman criticized their work, withheld information and refused to communicate with them.
Harris Mattson of Bangor was Brayman’s most recent lawyer, having been assigned the case in January 2022. During his motion Wednesday to withdraw from the case, Mattson said his working relationship with Brayman became untenable when Brayman became more abrasive in recent months.
“Mr. Brayman is highly effective at speaking out of both sides of his mouth,” Mattson said. “He’s almost made me reconsider my position, but I know better at this point. I know he will turn on me again immediately.”
District Court Judge Eric Walker declined to provide another lawyer for Brayman, saying Brayman implicitly waived his right to legal counsel due to his treatment of past legal representation.
“I’ve never, in almost 10 years of sitting on the bench, had a case where I’ve denied somebody the right to have a court-appointed attorney,” Walker told Brayman. “But your conduct over these last few years that I’ve handled the case, attacking the work of your attorneys, is disturbing.”
Brayman, who is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, said his attorney-client confidentiality had been violated due to a lack of privacy. He alleged that jail employees had opened confidential mailings and listened to private telephone calls between Brayman and his lawyers, and that Mattson had refused to answer his calls from jail.
“They open and monitor every text, every piece of mail to be opened, outgoing and incoming, and all of this is to supply the prosecutor,” Brayman said during Wednesday’s hearing. “I can’t keep being accused by the person who’s supposed to be representing me. It’s not me not talking with him, it’s him not working with me.”
Walker called Brayman’s claims inaccurate before saying Brayman’s “inability to work with his attorneys effectively” delayed the case’s resolution.
“Basically, (Brayman) would say good things about them just to some degree, but then at the other time, (he) would attack their work,” the judge said. “So (he is) patting him on the back on one hand and stabbing him in the back on the other.”
Walker delayed the sentencing for another month “to give Mr. Brayman the proper amount of time to prepare.”
A court date had not been finalized as of Wednesday.
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