BRUNSWICK, Maine — A former Bowdoin College student charged twice by the Cumberland County district attorney with the alleged rape of a fellow student in 2015 pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct after the DA’s office dismissed the gross sexual assault charge.
Brunswick police went to the area of the Androscoggin Swinging Bridge just after 2:30 a.m. on May 25, after Bowdoin College security guards reported that a 20-year-old female student had called them for a ride, police said at the time.
When officers arrived, the student alleged an “acquaintance” raped her earlier that night, police said. Officers and police dogs from several towns searched for hours before finding and arresting Logan Taylor, 22, previously of Skowhegan. Taylor was charged with gross sexual assault, a Class A felony that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
But the charge was dismissed in August of 2015 after prosecutors failed to present the case to a grand jury within three sessions of Taylor’s initial appearance because of “several outstanding matters,” former Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan said in September. Because the case was dismissed without prejudice, the DA’s office was free to pursue the charges within the statute of limitations.
Two months later, Taylor was indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury on a single count of gross sexual assault.
Then, in April of this year, under the terms of an Alford plea agreement, Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of Class E misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and the district attorney’s office dismissed the charge of gross sexual assault.
Unlike other forms of plea agreements, under an Alford plea a defendant doesn’t admit to the charge but admits that evidence would likely cause a judge or jury to find him or her guilty.
Madigan, who is no longer with the district attorney’s office, did not return phone calls seeking information about the plea agreement or why the district attorney’s office chose not to pursue the more serious charge. His supervisors at the DA’s office said they had no information about the plea.
Neither of Taylor’s attorneys, Andrew Wright of Brunswick or Andrei Maciag of Freeport, returned repeated phone calls seeking comment.
But according to court documents, a recorded interview of the alleged victim by a Brunswick detective — the only interview by law enforcement of the woman — was incomplete. “The recorded interview of the alleged victim ends with an alleged battery failure,” Justice Paul A. Fritzsche wrote in a Feb. 9, 2016, order.
Fritzsche ordered that prosecutors present an affidavit by Detective Greg Mears, who interviewed the alleged victim that night, explaining the battery failure “and what, if anything, was discussed after the failure.”
In the motion, defense attorneys claimed they first requested the missing conversation in June 2015 and were only informed in December 2015 that the battery had died.
“The state has lost … material at best through negligence and at worst through intentional disregard for proper victim-recording protocol concerning the most important evidence in this case,” the motion states.
When asked about the dismissal, Brunswick police Cmdr. Mark Waltz wrote in an email Wednesday, “Only the district attorney’s office can address why a case is resolved in a particular way, and many factors go into their decisions ranging from evidentiary standards to availability of witnesses. Detective Mears worked hard on this case, investigated it thoroughly and brought forth all of the evidence he could find.”
At the time of Taylor’s arrest, the college began an independent investigation of the incident, the Bowdoin Orient reported in September, but Director of Gender Violence Prevention and Education Benje Douglas told the student newspaper that the investigation was dropped after Taylor, who was due to graduate in 2017, left Bowdoin.
College spokesman Doug Cook said Taylor withdrew during the summer and was no longer enrolled.
Taylor pleaded guilty in April to Class E misdemeanor disorderly conduct and was sentenced to five days in jail, time served.