LEWISTON – Convicted of shooting and killing his father in 2006, Scott Poirier will not have time whittled off his prison sentence.

That decision came from a Superior Court justice who ruled that Poirier, 36, of Sabattus, will serve the remainder of the five-year sentence. Poirier had filed a motion in an attempt to be released from jail early.

In 2008, Poirier was convicted of manslaughter in the killing of his father, Roland “Jerry” Poirier, by shooting the elder Poirier through a window at his birthday party.

Scott Poirier was ordered to serve 12 years in prison with all but five years suspended. By the time he was sentenced, he had spent 471 days in jail awaiting trial.

At his sentencing in March 2008, Justice Joyce Wheeler commented that Poirier would spend roughly two years in prison after time served and good behavior were factored in.

Defense attorney Steven Peterson took that comment at face value. If Wheeler intended to have Poirier spend only two years in prison after his sentencing, he said, Poirier’s estimated release date should be in 2010. The Maine Department of Corrections estimated the release date as sometime in 2011.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, on the other hand, argued that Wheeler’s “off-handed comment” made in court during sentencing shouldn’t take the place of the factual sentencing analysis carried out by the judge.

In her recent ruling, Justice Wheeler agreed.

“The court’s clear intent was that Poirier would serve five years reduced by good time if he behaved in prison,” the ruling states. “Although the court in its remaining remarks to Poirier used the expression ‘approximately another two years,’ this was not the sentence but a mistaken calculation on the part of the court of how much additional time Poirier would serve if he behaved in prison.”

Poirier will be eligible for release in 2011.

Poirier shot his father with a hunting rifle during his 65th birthday celebration surrounded by family at his Grove Street home. The jury believed Poirier suffered from an abnormal condition of mind at the time of the shooting because he had been a teenage victim of sexual abuse at the hands of his father.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.