AUBURN — Two of three defendants criminally charged in a fatal haunted hayride last fall have lined up lawyers to represent them at their first court appearances on Thursday.
Portland defense attorney Michael Whipple is expected to represent Harvest Hill Farm of Mechanic Falls, a company that’s charged with manslaughter and two other felonies stemming from an Oct. 11 haunted hayride that killed a teenager and injured dozens of passengers.
Whipple represented Harvest Hill Farm owner, Peter Bolduc Jr., while an Androscoggin County grand jury was meeting over three months to hear testimony and examine evidence from the hayride accident. The Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office decided not to seek an indictment again Bolduc, who passed a lie detector test administered by Maine State Police and testified before the grand jury.
Bolduc is not expected to attend the arraignment, Whipple said Wednesday.
Because a company cannot be imprisoned, it is not eligible to apply for a court-appointed attorney. Bolduc’s company that owns the land where the haunted hayride occurred has declared bankruptcy. Harvest Hill Farm is not in good standing with the state, according to the state’s website.
David Brown, 55, of South Paris, the driver of a jeep that pulled a flatbed hauling haunted hayride passengers that jackknifed the night of Oct. 11 is expected to be represented Thursday by local defense attorney Leonard Sharon. Brown is charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail.
No attorney had entered an appearance by Wednesday for a third defendant connected to the incident, Philip Theberge, 38, of Norway, who worked as a mechanic at the farm. He was charged with reckless conduct.
According to Maine law, every organization convicted of a crime may be sentenced a fine, possibly with probation. A judge could order the convicted organization to publicize its conviction.
Cassidy Charette, 17, of Oakland was killed in the accident.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
