Wave of high-profile murder trials expected in Penobscot County next year

By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff

Penobscot County is scheduled to see four murder trials in 2026, nearly three years after the last murder trial was held in Bangor.

Three murder trials are scheduled for the spring while one is tentatively scheduled for the fall. Victims in the cases range from 10-year-old Braxtyn Smith to 64-year-old Lee Ruona.

The volume of trials scheduled for next year is noteworthy for a county that hasn’t had a murder trial in nearly three years. The last murder trial in Penobscot County was Ronald Harding in March 2023. A jury convicted him of manslaughter.

Any of these cases could end up not going to trial in 2026 for various reasons, including if a defendant reaches a plea deal beforehand or if the court reschedules.

It typically takes at least a year, and sometimes longer, for murder cases to be ready for trial, criminal defense lawyer Hunter Tzovarras said. The trials usually take a week or two, which means it can be hard to find time at the courts for them, he said.

The Office of the Maine Attorney General, which prosecutes murder cases, declined to comment.

The potential trials are listed in chronological order.

Gary Brinson

Brinson, 71, is accused of fatally stabbing Lee Ruona on Dec. 4, 2024. The stabbing happened at Brinson’s apartment on Union Street after what Brinson described as a night of drinking with Ruona, a close friend.  

Brinson is charged with intentional or knowing murder. He is scheduled for a conference on Jan. 20, with jury selection and a trial starting Feb. 23.

In an interview with police he allegedly said he understood he was responsible for Ruona’s death. Brinson and Ruona are both military combat veterans with PTSD, Brinson told police. 

They lived in the same apartment building but in different units. Ruona would come over to Brinson’s unlocked apartment and the two would drink alcohol and watch TV, he said.

Brinson is being held at the Penobscot County Jail.

Joshua Smith, Jem Bean and Mistie Latourette 

Three people are accused of abusing 10-year-old Braxtyn Smith for months until he died Feb. 18, 2024.

Braxtyn’s parents, Joshua Smith and Jem Bean, as well as his grandmother, Mistie Latourette, are charged with depraved indifference murder.

A 15-page affidavit outlined the horrific abuse Smith, Bean and Latourette allegedly inflicted on Braxtyn. The adults described to police how the 10-year-old was zip-tied to chairs and his parents, forced to dig through the trash for food, and called insulting names, according to the affidavit for probable cause compiled by the Bangor Police Department.

Bean is scheduled for a plea hearing on Jan. 26. 

Smith and Latourette are scheduled for jury selection and trial starting March 23.

All three are held in the Penobscot County Jail.

Richard Thorpe

Richard Thorpe, 44, of Bangor is charged with intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder in the Sept. 25, 2024, death of 39-year-old Bangor resident Virginia Cookson.

Cookson was Thorpe’s ex-girlfriend. She was found dead in her home on Larkin Street and died from strangulation in a homicide.

Cookson and Thorpe started dating in April 2024, and she had broken up with him shortly before her death, according to court records. Cookson was outgoing and incredibly generous, her friend Penny Millner said previously.

Thorpe is held at the Penobscot County Jail. He is scheduled for a status conference March 13 and for a jury trial to start May 26.

Dylan Belanger, Dylan Boyce, Kenneth Creamer and Holden Melvin

The four men are accused of killing Dylan Caruso, 27, who was last seen Sept. 30, 2024, on lower Ohio Street in Bangor. His body was found in a wooded area in Exeter on Oct. 23, 2024.

The men are scheduled for a tentative jury trial in October.

Caruso was allegedly shot in Coe Park in Bangor before his body was moved to Exeter.

Melvin pleaded not guilty to one count each of felony murder and hindering apprehension or prosecution, a Class B felony. Felony murder is when the death of someone is caused as a “reasonably foreseeable consequence” while committing, or attempting to commit, another crime, according to Maine law.

He is scheduled for a bail revocation hearing Jan. 5. His $100,000 bail was lowered to $1,000 in June and the new bail includes staying inside his mother’s Milo home. The bail was lowered because of serious health concerns.  

The other men do not have court appearances scheduled.

Creamer of Exeter pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of intentional or knowing murder, aggravated trafficking of fentanyl and aggravated trafficking of cocaine. He was denied bail.

Boyce of Exeter pleaded not guilty to one felony count of intentional or knowing murder and two counts of tampering with a witness or informant, which are Class C felonies. He is not listed in the Penobscot County Jail.

Belanger of Corinth pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of hindering apprehension or prosecution and tampering with a witness or informant. He is not listed in the Penobscot County Jail.

Also charged in the case is Samantha McCullough, 38, of Bangor, who pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of hindering apprehension or prosecution and tampering with a witness or informant. She has posted bail.