BANGOR, Maine — A private investigator said he no longer will work with defense attorneys on court-appointed criminal cases even though a District Court judge Wednesday dismissed a temporary protection from harassment order and refused to impose a permanent order against him.
Victor Kraft, 59, of Bangor said after the hearing before District Court Judge Bruce Jordan at the Penobscot Judicial Center that the he has “lost faith in the legal system.”
The private investigator said that he could not work for a system that allowed a judge to sign the temporary order against someone who has worked for the court system.
Kraft, who has not yet formally resigned, is one of about 50 private investigators in Maine who work with defense attorneys, according to John Pelletier, executive director of the Indigent Legal Defense Commission. Investigators are selected by defense attorneys but approved and paid $30 per hour by the commission.
“They primarily interview witnesses in preparation for trials,” Pelletier said last week.
On Wednesday, Pelletier said he believed Kraft’s experience was an isolated incident and he was not concerned it would have an impact on the ability of defense attorneys to find private investigators to work on cases.
The order was sought by Steven Veneziano, 51, of Hampden.
Kraft also sought a protection from harassment order against Veneziano. The private investigator told Jordan that he was afraid of Veneziano because of the things he had written in the affidavit seeking the order. A different judge earlier this month denied Kraft’s request but Jordan took the matter under advisement.
Jordan said he was not sure Maine law allowed him to issue such an order without more examples of direct harassment than Veneziano’s seeking such an order and Kraft’s fear of harassment.
Under Maine law, the legal standard for issuing a protection from harassment order is: “Three or more acts of intimidation, confrontation, physical force or the threat of physical force directed against any person, family or business that are made with the intention of causing fear, intimidation or damage to personal property and that do in fact cause fear, intimidation or damage to personal property.”
Although Kraft thought before Wednesday’s hearing that he did not know who Veneziano was, on Wednesday the private investigator told the judge the Hampden man did hire him in 2011. Kraft said it was to investigate Veneziano’s ex-wife. Veneziano said it was to investigate a former boss.
Veneziano did not call any witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing. Kraft called four in support of his request for a protection order against Veneziano, including Joseph Rogers, director of public safety in Hampden.
Rogers, who was subpoenaed by Kraft, testified that Veneziano has complained as recently as January that the Hampden police are following him. Under cross-examination by Veneziano, Rogers said that he remembered a conversation in January that included a discussion about the New England Patriots’ chance of winning the Super Bowl but the police chief said he did not remember Veneziano mentioning Kraft.
There is no timeline under which Jordan must issue a decision on Kraft’s request for a protection order against Veneziano.