BANGOR, Maine — A South Windham man accused of mailing potassium cyanide to a man in England who used it to commit suicide was found competent Friday in U.S. District Court to stand trial.
As a result of being found competent, Sidney P. Kilmartin, 53, withdrew his not guilty by reason of insanity plea.
Kilmartin underwent a psychological evaluation but its results are sealed as court rules require.
He told U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock on Friday that he has taken mood stabilizers and psychotropic drugs for the past four years and continues to take them while jailed awaiting trial.
A trial date was set tentatively for next month but most likely one won’t be held until next year.
Kilmartin, who has a history of mental illness, is charged with one count each of mailing injurious articles and mailing injurious articles that resulted in death.
He is being held without bail at the Somerset County Jail.
Kilmartin caused the death of Andrew Denton of Hull, England, when he mailed cyanide to him once in November 2012 and again the following month, according to the indictment,
Denton’s death was ruled a suicide, according to court documents.
His body was found on Dec. 31, 2012, at his home by a relative.
In 2013, police launched an investigation into how Denton, 49, obtained the cyanide found in his system in an autopsy, the motion said. Denton suffered from depression and had made previous suicide attempts.
Kilmartin allegedly advertised the drug online as “a painless and quick way to commit suicide” and offered to sell “industrial grade” potassium cyanide for $250 per gram, according to federal documents unsealed in late March in the U.S. District Court in Bangor.
Kilmartin was living with his wife but legally was in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services when he allegedly mailed cyanide to Benton, according to court documents. He was found not criminally responsible in 2009 for crimes he was accused of committing two years earlier, including an aggravated assault on an elderly man.
If convicted, Kilmartin faces up to life in federal prison. The U.S. attorney’s office in Maine is not seeking the death penalty, according to court documents.