PARIS – An attorney with the Maine State Police has objected to a request that the medical and personnel records of Trooper Dan Hanson be released to the attorneys in the Christian Nielsen murder case.

Nielsen, 32, is accused of shooting four people and mutilating their bodies over the course of Labor Day weekend 2006. Nielsen has pleaded both not guilty and not criminally responsible by reason of insanity or mental disease or defect.

Hanson was the first officer to arrive at the Black Bear Bed and Breakfast in Newry, where Nielsen was living and where three women connected to the business were slain. The fourth victim was a guest there and slain in nearby Upton.

“Granting the defendant’s motion for records would establish a disconcerting legal precedent with respect to the role that confidential personnel records of employees of the state of Maine play in Maine civil and criminal cases,” stated Christopher Parr in a motion filed in Oxford County Superior Court on Friday.

Defense attorneys Ron Hoffman and Margot Joly have requested that Hanson’s medical and personnel files be released for review. They argue that Hanson took an extended leave of absence “because he was so affected by the crime scene he witnessed,” and conclude that he may not be able to accurately recall the events of the day.

Parr states that the records the defense are requesting are confidential under state law. He also disputes that Hanson took an extended leave of absence, and said that the defense has not specified why they believe Hanson may have suffered mental trauma.

Parr concludes that the release of the records would create a precedent for allowing the use of confidential records in civil and criminal cases based upon “mere suppositions.”

Andrew Benson, assistant attorney general and prosecutor in the case, has also objected to the defense’s motion, saying the defense has not shown that there is material in Hanson’s files that would raise reasonable doubt regarding Nielsen’s guilt.

Justice Robert E. Crowley, who has been assigned to handle all matters regarding the case, will decide on the motion in Cumberland County Superior Court on July 2.