HOULTON, Maine — Prosecution and defense attorneys in the case against a St. Francis man accused of killing his girlfriend a year ago met for close to three hours Monday behind closed doors in front of an Aroostook County Superior Court judge.
The judicial settlement conference for Jesse Marquis ended with no actions or motions filed, according to the court clerk at the Superior Court in Caribou, where the case file was returned after the conference at Superior Court in Houlton.
John Alsop, an attorney with the state attorney general’s office, would not comment on the conference or specifics of the case on Monday.
Marquis’ defense attorneys Steven Smith and Dan Umphrey also had no comment on what the conference meant for their client.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Daigle directed any questions to the clerk’s office at the Caribou courthouse.
At one point in the preceding Monday morning, Marquis was brought over from the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton to meet in private with Smith and Umphrey.
Marquis, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, his hands and feet shackled, was smiling and appeared relaxed as he was escorted to and from a small conference room by two sheriff’s deputies for the 20-minute meeting.
Cameras were not allowed in the building.
Marquis, 39, has been held at the county jail on a murder charge in connection with the May 31, 2014, death of his longtime girlfriend Amy Theriault, 31, just days after she had ended their relationship.
The state medical examiner has ruled Theriault’s death a homicide. She died of a gunshot wound to the chest and multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck.
Marquis was the subject of one of the largest manhunts in northern Maine history and remained on the run for six days before he was captured about a mile from the crime scene.
He was indicted by the Aroostook County grand jury on a charge of murder last July.
On Monday, Amy Theriault’s parents and sister were at the courthouse in the company of a victim advocate.
The Theriaults did not participate in the settlement conference but did meet with Alsop behind closed doors while Marquis met with his attorneys in the neighboring room.
The family did not see the accused enter or leave the building and declined to comment as they left after the conference.
In April, Barbara Theriault began a petition drive to collect enough signatures she hoped would convince a judge to hand down a life sentence to Marquis should he be found guilty of murdering her daughter.
At the time, Theriault said she was not aware if any plea deal was in the works while Marquis awaits trial in the Aroostook County Jail, but she was concerned a settlement might occur to give him a minimum sentence.
Should Marquis go to trial and be found guilty, he faces a penalty of 25 years to life in prison. Maine does not have the death penalty.
A case management conference is scheduled for Marquis on Aug. 27 in Caribou Superior Court.
