A former Newport lawyer, convicted in 2022 on one count of theft by unauthorized taking, is going back to court this week in Aroostook County for a post-conviction review.
Dale Thistle, 79, was found guilty of stealing a portion of a $390,000 wrongful death settlement, following a 2022 two-day trial in Bangor. The funds were meant for the estate of Gilman Friend, Thistle’s client.
Thistle’s post-conviction evidentiary review on the matter is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 3 and 4 in Aroostook County Superior Court at Houlton. According to Maine law, after an appeal has ended a defendant can challenge a conviction or sentencing through a post-conviction review on the grounds that they had an ineffective attorney, that their sentence was improper, that their record should be expunged, or because of new evidence, among other things.
In 2024, Thistle appealed his conviction to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on several grounds, including that the trial court erred by not granting his motion for acquittal due to a statute of limitations defense, that the court erred in its instructions to the jury on the Maine Rules of Professional Conduct, that the State committed prosecutorial error, and that the evidence was insufficient to convict him.
The justices rejected Thistle’s arguments, upholding the trial court decision.
According to the court, there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that Thistle intentionally or recklessly failed to pay the settlement funds to Gilman’s children and used the money as his own.
Thistle, who had drawn up Gilman Friend’s will in 2008, represented Friend’s ex-wife Donna Friend in a wrongful death suit against emergency responders. In 2012, Thistle negotiated a $390,000 settlement, owed to Gilman Friend’s children, because the couple had divorced prior to his death even though they still lived together.
After depositing the $390,000 into his Interest on Lawyer’s Trust Account, Thistle reimbursed Donna Friend her expenses, paid a consulting attorney on the case and took $96,300 owed to himself from the wrongful death monies. Approximately $290,000 of the settlement funds remained for distribution to the children, the Maine Supreme Court said in their written opinion.
Nonetheless, Thistle failed to notify Gilman Friend’s children that the settlement funds existed. They did not discover it until after Donna Friend’s 2014 death, according to court records.
Between 2012 and 2014, the former Newport lawyer withdrew funds from the account for personal expenses including tax delinquency payments, home repairs and payments to his son and ex-wife, court documents said.
When the account was closed in 2014, it contained $15,445.92 of the $290,000 owed to Gilman’s children.
Thistle, who was living in Quebec City, Quebec with his Canadian wife at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to six years in prison with all but two years suspended and three years probation.
In addition to serving time in the state prison, Thistle was ordered to pay $34,522 to the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection that was paid to Gilman Friend’s estate and $255,478 to the estate itself.
