BELFAST, Maine — A Superior Court judge Wednesday morning declared a mistrial after a witness told jurors the defendant was a registered sex offender.
Glenn L. Reed, 67, of Lincolnville was indicted in February by the Waldo County grand jury on one count of unlawful sexual contact, according to Neil McLean, assistant district attorney for Waldo County, who is prosecuting the case.
The prosecutor said Wednesday afternoon that the charge is a Class A felony. The victim was 11 years old at the time of the alleged attack.
Justice Robert Murray ruled before the trial began Tuesday that the jury would not be given information about Reed’s criminal history and the fact that he is a registered sex offender because it could be prejudicial. Such rulings are common during trials.
“We will retry this case,” McLean said Wednesday. “We fully understand and respect the judge’s decision.”
Murray will meet with attorneys in September to select a date for a new trial, the prosecutor said.
Reed’s case was expected to go to the jury late Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, defense attorney Hunter Tzovarras said after the mistrial was declared.
“Our witness was on the stand and during cross examination seemed to go off on a tangent and said he was on the sex offender registry.” Tzovarras said. “There was nothing wrong with the way the question was asked.”
Reed, who has been free on bail since April, was arrested in December, nine months after the now 14-year-old girl wrote an essay in school that recounted allegedly being sexually assaulted by Reed during the summer of 2011, according to a previously published report. The essay triggered a police investigation, and the girl told investigators from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office that the assault had occurred at a trailer in Searsmont after Reed provided her with marijuana.
When police first talked to Reed, he offered to take a polygraph test, but on the day it was scheduled he said he believed he was having a heart attack and needed to see a doctor, the previous report said. He also told police that he has dementia and does not recall knowing the victim.
Reed’s record of convictions for violent sexual crimes stretches back more than 30 years, to a 1983 conviction for raping a teenage hitchhiker he had picked up on the road in Lincolnville. He served time in prison for that offense.
Most recently, he was convicted in 2013 of unlawful sexual touching, assault and disorderly conduct after going up to a 27-year-old store clerk in Belfast and telling her he needed a hug. He then sexually assaulted her by fondling her buttocks and grabbing at her breasts.
If convicted, Reed faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
BDN writer Abigail Curtis contributed to this report.