AUBURN – A Lewiston man accused of murdering his mother says he misses her, his lawyer said Thursday.

“It may sound kind of odd to say, he misses his mother very much and he’s very saddened about what’s happened,” said Justin Leary, a local attorney representing Matthew Audet.

Audet was in Androscoggin County Superior Court Thursday afternoon.

The 22-year-old pleaded “not guilty” to a murder charge. Despite a prosecutor’s urging, a judge set bail at $100,000 cash; $250,000 surety. He is being held at Androscoggin County Jail.

Discussion of bail touched on Audet’s flight risk, work history at temporary jobs and criminal history, which both sides agreed was “negligible.”

“There’s really no reason for him to stick around,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said, given Audet’s lack of immediate family in the area and given the seriousness of the crime.

Leary said his client was holding up “all right,” but likely won’t be able to post bail because he has no assets. “Completely unlikely. No chance.”

If he were to make bail, Audet would be barred from having any contact with his estranged wife, Kayla Stevens Audet, 20, who is filing for divorce, Marchese said. The couple shared an apartment on Birch Street with his mother, Debra Audet, the woman he’s alleged to have strangled on March 16.

Audet was dressed in an orange jail suit, a shock of bleach blond hair for bangs. An aunt and uncle were in the courtroom.

If Audet were to change his plea to an insanity defense, for example, he would have to file that motion by Aug. 1, the judge said. Leary said he’s “not strongly considering it at this time.”

Leary said outside the courthouse that several witnesses contacted him, sharing accounts of a “longstanding pattern of physical, emotional and sexual abuse … from a young age.”

Both of Audet’s parents reportedly were “severe alcoholics,” Leary said, a description Marchese used at the hearing to describe the defendant.

Police said in court records they learned that both Audet and his wife allegedly had sexual relationships with his mother. Audet’s wife was packing to leave him when he allegedly strangled his mother on a mattress in her bedroom.

An autopsy revealed injuries consistent with strangulation.