A criminal case involving a robbery and burglary in Boothbay from over two years ago and a defendant who has already spent more than a year in jail after his bail was revoked is once again headed for trial.
Michael L. Brewer, 59, of Boothbay, was indicted by a grand jury in May 2013 for robbery, a class A felony, and burglary, a class B felony, after allegedly invading an occupied Barters Island home in March of that year.
Three people were said to be involved in the invasion, which included assaults and a threat to one of the homeowners that they would “blow his head off” if he didn’t open a safe in the bedroom, according to The Lincoln County News archives. The men made off with money from the safe.
Brewer was arrested in April 2013 following multiple interviews and after the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory matched Brewer’s DNA profile to a hat Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective Terry Michaud found in the home’s driveway the night of the robbery.
Brewer pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“There is only circumstantial evidence tying him to the case, and that’s giving the benefit of the doubt to the state,” Brewer’s then-defense attorney, Thaddeus Day, said last summer. “Brewer asserts he is innocent. He asserts that he was not there.”
Peter Rodway, Brewer’s current attorney, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The case is headed to trial next month.
According to court personnel, jury selection will begin on Aug. 3, and the trial itself is scheduled for Aug. 25-27.
If convicted at trial, Brewer faces up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for the robbery charge and up to 10 years and a $20,000 fine for the burglary charge, according to state statute.
Brewer has been incarcerated for over a year after Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings revoked Brewer’s bail last summer.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Brewer in Damariscotta July 7, 2014 for violating bail conditions requiring him to live at an address in Union and prohibiting him from the use or possession of alcohol. It was Brewer’s third arrest for alcohol-related bail violations in six months, according to The Lincoln County News archives.
Brewer pleaded guilty to the two violation of condition of release charges on July 31, 2014.
Brewer has been in custody at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset since his July 7, 2014 arrest, according to jail staff.
Brewer’s violent criminal history dates back to the mid-1970s, starting with a felony armed assault when he was just 18 years old, and includes a conviction for an attempted murder in 1988.
“I think it’s common knowledge that Michael Brewer is typically referred to as the person with the longest criminal record in Lincoln County,” Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright said last June.
