SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A Maine man arrested last year and charged with killing a woman more than three decades ago has had his bid to remain free while awaiting trial rejected.
A justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision and ordered 56-year-old Jay Mercier of Industry to continue being held without bail based on the nature of the crime and the evidence against him.
Mercier was arrested in September and charged in the death of 20-year-old Rita St. Peter, whose battered body was found on the roadside in Anson in July 1980. Mercier was tied to the killing through DNA evidence.
The Morning Sentinel reports Mercier’s lawyer argued that a police affidavit in the case was unreliable and his client is not a flight risk.
Jay, you’ve been free for the last 31 years. Now it’s time to pay.
Right…start paying for the crime.
Oh so AFTER you kill someone you’re denied bail…that’s why Steven Lake was apparently allowed to run free…SO he could kill someone…I guess if he hadn’t of killed himself in the process we could take some solace in knowing that he might have THEN been denied bail.
The woman he’s accused of killing has been dead for a long time now. He’s been able to live his life.
I don’t think it’s to much to ask to have him sit in jail until it’s determined if he’s guilty or not. if he’s found innocent then his lawyer will help him to file a false arrest lawsuit.