AUBURN — A Lewiston man charged with manslaughter in his baby son’s death is seeking to have statements he made to police kept from trial.
Sean St. Amand, 28, filed motions through his attorney, George Hess, to bar prosecutors from using statements St. Amand made to police on Oct. 20 during an interrogation.
Hess wrote in court papers filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court that police searched St. Amand’s home illegally. Police also seized St. Amand’s cellphone and blood without St. Amand’s permission, Hess wrote.
All statements and evidence were taken in violation of St. Amand’s constitutional rights and should be kept from use by the Maine Attorney General’s Office at trial, according to Hess.
Hess wrote in a separate motion that allegations made in a search warrant of St. Amand’s home and the sworn affidavit supporting it failed to provide probable cause for the warrant to be issued.
An October hearing is scheduled on the motions.
Hess had filed a motion to have the Maine Department of Health and Human Services provide records about the victim, Sean St. Amand Jr., who was nearly 1 year old when he died, and his sister, Shay-Lynn, who is 2 years old. The department may have information about the two children and their family that may be relevant to this case because a referral to the agency had been made and St. Amand was interviewed by an agency worker, Hess wrote.
A judge granted Hess’ motion for the records to be given to the court for the judge to review.
In addition to the manslaughter charge, St. Amand was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
Police said Sean St. Amand, on Oct. 20, placed his son in a bathtub with the boy’s sister, Shay-Lynn. The father left them for an undetermined length of time. When he returned, the boy was unresponsive. He was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was pronounced dead. Shay-Lynn St. Amand was nearly 2 years old at the time of the incident.
Police said the incident took place at 125 Pierce St. in Lewiston. The boy’s mother, Jennifer Everett, had been taking a nap in the apartment at the time.
Police did not know why the father left the room or how long he was gone.
An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s office revealed the baby died from drowning. It found no drugs in his system.
St. Amand is prohibited from living at the home and being with Shay-Lynn without supervision.
A judge recently allowed him to use medical marijuana while on bail, but he can only use it at his residence and can’t use it in the presence of anyone younger than 21.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
