PARIS – A lawyer for Christian C. Nielsen said the defense opposes the state’s request for its own psychiatric examination of the murder suspect because it violates his constitutional rights.

Attorney Margot Joly of Wilton, who along with Ron Hoffman of Rumford is representing Nielsen, wrote in a response filed in Oxford County Superior Court this week that the state’s request, if granted, would deny Nielsen’s rights to not incriminate himself, to a fair and speedy trial, and to due process.

Nielsen, 31, has been indicted on four murder charges stemming from the Labor Day weekend shooting deaths of four people connected to the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast on Sunday River Road in Newry, where he was living then.

The state argued in its motion that it had good cause for its own mental expert to examine Nielsen because his attorneys had hired one for the same purpose and may use insanity as a defense.

Joly said that was not a valid argument because although psychologist Dr. Charles Robinson has been hired by the defense to examine Nielsen, the exam has not been done because the state did not provide Nielsen’s attorneys with details of its investigation.

“Dr. Robinson has not been able to review any of the police reports, results of examinations by the Maine State Crime Lab, photographs or any other discovery, beyond that already provided to the defendant’s attorneys,” Joly wrote. “Such review of all discovery is crucial for Dr. Robinson to complete a full and complete evaluation of the defendant’s mental condition.”

She wrote that it’s common practice to forbid the defendant’s attorney from being present at the evaluation, so if Nielsen is ordered to have one he might be “placed in the position to possibly make incriminating statements against himself and to be interviewed by the state psychologist without the benefit of counsel being present.”

“The defendant’s state of mind at the time of the offenses is likely to be a critical issue at the time of the trial,” Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson argued in his motion to the court.

“Whereas there is a reasonable likelihood that the defendant may seek the introduction of expert testimony concerning his mental condition at the time of the offenses, the state should be given the opportunity for an unfettered mental exam at the earliest moment possible,” Benson wrote, adding that it’s allowed under Maine law.

Benson also wrote that statements made during a mental exam are not admissible at trial on the issue of guilt.

Justice Robert Crowley will rule on the motion Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland, where Nielsen will be arraigned that day.

Killed were James Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Ark., a guest at the inn, on Sept. 1 in Upton; inn owner Julie Bullard, 65, on Sept. 3 at the inn; and Bullard’s daughter, Selby, 30, of Newry, and her friend, Cynthia Beatson, 43, of Bethel, on Sept. 4 at the inn, according to a Maine State Police affidavit.

The women’s dismembered bodies were found outside the inn on Labor Day, Sept. 4, where Nielsen was taken into custody shortly after his stepmother called state police to report finding one of the bodies. Whitehurst’s burned body was found buried in woods in Upton on Sept. 5.

State Police Detective Terrance James wrote in an affidavit that Nielsen confessed to intentionally killing all four.

Police have not revealed a motive for the slayings.

Nielsen, a cook at a Bethel inn at the time of the killings, is being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland after assaulting an Oxford County Jail inmate, officials said.