A story of desperation...a message of hope and inspiration.
A person, whether rich or poor, can easily lose everything after just a few days in jail. I was so sure I had read an old Supreme Court case in which punishment for a crime shouldn't interfere with a man's livelihood. I just couldn't find it again, until I found a research paper at the George Mason University:
To be sure, with respect to minor offenses, the proportionate penalty could be one that is in accordance with the offense's gravity and leaves the offender with, at a minimum, his livelihood.
It was on page 17 of a 2015ish George Mason University School of Law paper by Craig S. Lerner about the 800 something year-old Magna Carta...ahhh.
Here'a a good article at Prison Policy Initiative regarding failure to appear (FTA) and there's a link to a chart where you can find how your state treats it.
Nearly every jurisdiction permits additional charges to be brought against someone who misses court, including the imposition of fines and imprisonment, with the exception of two states: Illinois and Mississippi. Four states — Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, and South Dakota — treat failure to appear as a strict liability offense, meaning no evidence of intent is required to hold defendants criminally responsible for nonappearance.
Of course, Maine, at the bottom. Cash bail is supposed to be an incentive for you to show up, or they get to keep the money put up. It's also another way to extract money from the innocent who've been wrongly arrested.
I asked my court-appointed attorney for the letter that I heard the executive director of the MCPDS sent to the 8 district attorneys in Maine, and Attorney General Frey. He sent me a PDF and I tried to link it here, but it came up as blocked; in the address line was about:blank#blocked.
I printed out the letter, and photographed it. I'm hoping that when I change the ink cartridge, the smear will disappear.
If you are being maliciously prosecuted, send this to the DA to remind her/him they work for the people of Maine, not the person who signs their paycheck.
I was arrested on July 10, 2024. The officer signed the sworn statement months later, on February 10, 2025. The officer lied; I didn't use fireworks, plus they aren't illegal.
Corporal Ted Martin failed to make a report or even issue a warning to the man who threatened me by text on June 6, 2024 after lying about being shot! He locked Pete and I out on July 8, 2024 and yelled violently at his brother and I on July 10, 2024. Officer Martin responded to both calls...and I was arrested for a slight argument with Pete on July 10, 2024. I've made a complaint to Officer Christopher Tupper, but absolutely nothing is being done to investigate Martin.
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Case # AROCD 2024-20209
District Attorney: Todd Collins
https://aroostook.me.us/appointed-elected/district-attorney/
Arresting officer: Maine State Corporal Ted Martin, Troop F
https://www.maine.gov/dps/msp/about/find-local-troop/troop-f
Presiding Judge: Stephen Nelson Superior Court Aroostook County, Maine
https://www.courts.maine.gov/courts/superior/aroostook-caribou-sc.html
It's usually not smart to forcibly resist an arrest, because law enforcement has more power than the average individual; and from my own experience, once they make a decision to arrest, officers rarely change their mind, or rarely question the validity of a warrant, or authority of a judge...no matter how nicely you ask.
I found information about resisting arrest at Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association in Texas. Mentioned was a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case, U.S. v Danehy. There were a few other issued discussed, so I won't try to summarize the case. What I didn't expect was this reference to a case from 6 years earlier:
Speaking for the court in United States v. Johnson, 542 F.2d 230, 233 (5th Cir. 1976), Judge Morgan evaluated the current vitality of the common law right to forcibly resist unlawful arrest. He concluded that old Fifth Circuit case law on the subject had been "sapped of its precedential value" by the persuasive authority of decisions from the other courts of appeals. Those decisions recognize that the common law right to resist an arrest that is not based upon probable cause, suited though it may have been to a past era, has no significant role to play in our own society where ready access to the courts is available to redress such police misconduct.
Huh? Ready access to the courts is a fallacy. Immunity from prosecution is a judge-made rule. The decision in United States Supreme Court case, Stump v. Sparkman, in 1971 made it quite difficult to get a judge held accountable for violations of rights. And soon a similar immunity was granted to law enforcement.
There's a whole bunch of cases mentioned at the website Casemine which were cited in United States v. Danehy...many of them from the 1970's.
On the Home page, I just added the link to our Air BnB listing: GOT GEAR? Stay here! Text Paula at 2074365111 if you have questions about booking.
Just in case you haven't yet, you should read my 1-06-25 and 12-24-24 posts. I was prohibited by bail conditions to be at my own property after being threatened and wrongly arrested in July of 2024. I posted the actual threat and showed who i sent copies of it to.
1. The court in Caribou (presided over by Judge Stephen Nelson) where I was being prosecuted
2. District Attorney (Todd Collins and assistant Jon Engles) who were prosecuting me, but have since dismissed the case.
3. Sargeant (Brian Harris) of the troop which the corporal (Ted Martin) who arrested me belongs to. Nobody replied.
Today I went to my reels at Facebook, and found how to get the links to them. Here are the ones in which I tell a little about the multiple arrests and the malicious prosecutions against me...starting with the most recent.
I am trying to raise money to hire a civil rights attorney by auctioning this storage bench that I built. I made a ten minute video explaining. And the bidding will start at $10,000...that's what I've been quoted by one attorney as a retainer to take the case!
Hey maybe he'll accept the bench as a retainer. Someday it may be valuable, as this is my Rosa Parks moment; I just wish the media would do a story and report the many violations of my rights.
I will continue to resist arrests that I know to be without probable cause. I only do it from behind closed doors however, because to do otherwise could end with me being injured or killed. We do have the right to resist an unlawful arrest, but that right has been eroded over the years, due to officers and others who work in the justice system having immunity. They do not have immunity however when they act under color of law.
Here's a link regarding 42 USC Section 1983 Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights.
Yes, seven arrests regarding two cases: the one in Aroostook County has since been dismissed.
The warrant which was sealed, was in violation of my 1st amendment right of free speech. It could be unsealed now that it's been executed. I've already written about yesterday's arrest, on facebook today, 10-09-25. Go there to read about it.
https://www.facebook.com/paula.jeanne.michaud
There is a case pending in Maine Supreme Court, filed by the ACLU regarding warrantless arrests. You can read about Gaul v York County here.
The plaintiff, Caleb Gaul, claims he received a payout from law enforcement. On July 14, 2025 I posted a link to his facebook post, but just checked it and apparently he removed the video.
Regarding the right to counsel, the ACLU filed a lawsuit over 3 years ago, on behalf of defendants facing jail time who were not appointed attorneys; Robbins v State of Maine has been certified as a class action lawsuit.
Below is my email of 8-30-25 to the ACLU, and it includes my complaint to the Chief of Police of Lewiston, David St. Pierre, who announced his retirement soon after I handed the complaint to him at council meeting on 7-15-25. Despite that I notified him that the warrants were obtained without good reason, and asked Chief St. Pierre to investigate, he sent officers to arrest me the following day! I wasn't home and later turned myself in on July 17, paying the $560 "pay not to stay" fee called bail.
On 8-30-25 I wrote to the ACLU (info@ACLUMaine.org) regarding the multiple arrests of me, based on false claims.
I was jailed over Memorial Day weekend for failing to appear to pick a jury regarding phony charges in Aroostook County for which I was arrested on July 10 by Corporal Ted Martin. I had telephoned Maine State Police to make a complaint about a tenant who had yelled quite violently at his brother and I as we stood in the driveway attempting a conversation.
Two nights earlier we had called police when the guy locked us out of the home he shared with Pete; and on June 6 he'd sent us disturbing texts and telephoned us at 2:30 a.m. claiming to have been shot by so-called friends of our oldest son. The officer didn't even look at the texts I told him about, or interview the guy's brother regarding my claim on July 10 that Kevin was being disorderly. Below is a text he sent to Aaron. I had called police and confirmed there'd been no reports of gunfire in the small town of Saint Agatha; Kevin was lying. He knew Aaron was severely beaten by gang members in Lewiston in October of 2022.
Martin spent about a half hour speaking with Kevin while Pete and I waited in the garage. Meanwhile we had a slight argument, and it's for that I was arrested and charged with attempted disorderly conduct!?!? The district attorney, Todd Collins, dropped that charge, saying the wrong subsection had been cited...but added one for disorderly conduct! We started the eviction process, but Kevin moved out before we got very far with it.
In his report, Corporal Martin lied... said I was intoxicated on July 8. I was not and can prove it; I recorded audio and I am speaking clearly, not slurring my speech as he claimed. I requested trial by jury and was scheduled to pick one on May 5; however I forgot to add the date to my calendar. I received notices regarding two other court dates in Lincoln County around the same time; it's more false claims, another malicious prosecution!
Pete and I left Lewiston for Northern Maine on April 25, and I didn't bring the notices with us and I missed the hearing to pick a jury in Aroostook County. It was during the eviction of yet another tenant, Michael Morgan (AKA Goldilocks), on May 23 in Fort Kent District Court that I was arrested for the failure to appear. Judge Nelson was presiding over that case too, and he recognized me.
I spent the first 18 hours of my confinement in Aroostook County jail in "the hole" because during processing I didn't answer the question "Where were you born?" I wasn't given a phone call until Tuesday afternoon just before my release. And here's the status of my case now.
D.A. Todd Collins dismissed the charges. He should be indicted for malicious prosection and Corporal Ted Martin for the false arrest, and his failure to issue at least a warning to Kevin Thibeault regarding the threats and intimidation. As stated in the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure regarding the right to a trial by jury, it cannot be withdrawn without the consent of both parties. I want a trial by jury trial and an attorney appointed to me, despite that the charges against me have been dismissed.
Because I didn't appear to pick a jury after I was arrested without a warrant or probable cause on July 10, 2024, Judge Nelson issued a warrant for my arrest.
Nelson was the judge presiding over cases in Fort Kent on May 23 where Pete and I appeared as plaintiffs in the eviction matter of a tenant who was renting a portion of a home in Saint Agatha. He was trying to claim that he had rented the entire home. When we went there in the end of April we found he had removed many of our personal items from the home, and was sleeping in our bedroom, in our bed! I dubbed him Goldilocks.
The judge read the list of cases/names, and asked some to mediate. Soon the court marshall approached me and politely told me that I was going to be arrested. I had asked for the warrant which Nelson had issued from Superior Court on May 5 to be recalled but he had denied my request.
I told the marshal that I hoped we would get through the eviction matter before that happened. It was Pete's name I put on the paperwork in case I couldn't be there; and he was the one living there, while my home is in Lewiston. The judge sent Pete and the tenant into a room to mediate, and I wasn't allowed in! From the adjacent room I could hear alot of what was said by putting my ear to the wall. We won our case; Goldilocks had to move out within about one week.
The Fort Kent Chief of police, Michael DeLena, soon arrived. Then an Aroostook County sheriff deputy arrived to take me to Houlton County jail; Pete recorded the arrest on his cell phone.
During processing I was thrown in the hole for not complying, and was left there for 18 hours. "I was born in Fort Kent, Maine" is all I would have had to say to avoid that.
Sing and exercise is all I could do. Sleep was impossible on a narrow hard bench with nothing but a blanket; if that didn't keep me from it, the screams of desperation did. I could hear a young guy begging to go back to the shower, saying it hurt. After he was moved to the cell right near mine, I found out he'd been pepper sprayed. He was in for criminal mischief; I didn't ask for more details.
It was difficult to hear each other through the prison doors. He was only 20 years old. I asked if he had family that helped him. He said he did. I asked if he had a girlfriend. I was surprised by his answer because it sounded like "f*** you". It was actually "a few." When he was making noise some of the guys were telling him to "shut the f*** up", so I hollered out "he's just a kid."
After several hours in the hole, I started to cough. My throat felt irritated; I soon realized that it was due to the ammonia vapors in the room. I asked for them to flush the toilet - a hole in the cement floor.
When I was moved to the general population, I mentioned my son's name to my cell mate while passing by other inmates to get my lunch tray. One of the inmates said her boyfriend, who'd just been released, was Shane's friend; he'd met him in the Maine State Prison.
The water in Aroostook County jail was horrible; it took a whole day to get something for my lips. By Tuesday they were so chapped they were about to bleed! I had asked a few different guards but it was only when the medic came around that I got some from her.
I wasn't even given a phone call until Tuesday afternoon shortly before I was released. One of the girls said from their window she could see a man in a white truck had been parked there for hours...it was Pete. He thought I'd see the judge and be released on Tuesday morning.
I was never brought before a judge. The district attorney, satisfied that I'd been punished enough, dismissed the charges citing rule 48 a. The only thing I'm guilty of is failing to consent to a kangaroo court proceeding which would have been a waste of taxpayer dollars.
On November 4, 2024 I was arraigned in Fort Kent District Court. The case was presided over by Judge Carrie Linthicum.
I later googled her name and discovered that Judge Carrie Linthicum's pay in 2023 ($148,231.60) was three times her co-workers in Maine, and twice that of the national average. Judge Nelson, who sentenced Shane and who is now presiding over this ridiculous charge of disorderly conduct, had the same pay as Linthicum. And I found the pay for the Maine State trooper Ted Martin who arrested me. He must have had an increase in pay around the time of my arrest on July 10, 2024 because he'd just been promoted to corporal, imagine that.
The link to the payroll records is simply openpayrolls.com
If you don't get results in the search bar in the middle of the page, try using the search on the sidebar to the left, which you can use filters. I found District Attorney Todd Collins pay from there.
Todd R Collins worked as a District Attorney for the State of Maine and in 2023 had a reported pay of $135,021.60 according to public records. This is 94.6 percent higher than the average pay for state employees and 88.2 percent higher than the national average for government employees.
So now, for what happened at my arraignment. She, the judge, would not drop the bail condition which forbid me to be at the home on our property...even though our tenant moved out soon after my arrest and notice of eviction. I did not agree that the court had jurisdiction and would not enter a plea, so Judge Linthicum entered one for me, of "not guilty".
A unanimous decision by the Maine Supreme Court is reversed by the Maine Supreme Court in Pushard v. Finch. The decision involves the proceedures used by financial institutions in foreclosures.
Under Finch, foreclosing lenders will no longer face the draconian consequence of a simple error in a default notice resulting in the forfeiture of its note and mortgage.
Sorry, but there'll be no more free houses if the bank makes an error people. I mean it was a unanimous decision, now overturned. That's unusual. I found a story at the Seacoastonline by Douglas Rooks on January 4 2025, titled Judicial ethics complaints can't be ignored in Maine which shed some light on this case.
For the first time ever, one of its own members, Associate Justice Catherine Connors, has been recommended for discipline by the Committee on Judicial Conduct after failing to recuse herself for an important foreclosure case in which she cast the deciding vote.
I see....could it be she had ties to the winning party in that case?
Here's a Bangor Daily News story about Victim Servicea in Maine and how only half of the funds have been approved that are needed to help them, and other victims of crime. And, from the story:
A recent survey of callers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline found that 39 percent of those who also called police actually felt less safe after calling them; 40 percent said they believed it made no difference.
If you ever thought that your vote didn't matter much, read this story at WGME.
Lucas Lanigan won re-election by one vote; and surprisingly it was right after he was charged with choking his wife! Prior to that, Patricia Kidder was ahead of him. The alleged abuse happened so near the election that it's very possible that voters didn't get a chance to swallow the news.
Another story at WGME says after posting a $3000 bail, Lanigan is not to have contact with his wife. In relationships, things can get complicated and frustrations can turn into violence if there isn't appropriate support or counseling. As it stands, even a phone call would be in violation of the order placed on Lanigan, even though his wife doesn't want him to be charged.
But is completely cutting off ties always the best option? Sometimes it's the frustration of that disconnect that leads to violence. Despite whether or not there is reunification, when two people can't seem to come to a resolution of their problems, there should be some sort of intervention, mediation in an effort to keep both parties safe...processes that supplement or in some cases replace protection orders.
The non-profit that organized the march in Sanford is Finding Our Voices. The founder is Patricia McLean, and she interviewed Randall Liberty of the Maine State Prison; his father was an abuser who was in and out of prison. To combat the problems of violence, there's a new state office, The Office of Injury and Violence Prevention, a part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Shane’s been incarcerated now since November 22 of 2022. He accepted a plea bargain for the shooting of Justin Steggall and was sentenced by Justice Stephen Nelson on 11-08-23 in Aroostook County Superior Court.
There is evidence Shane likely acted in self-defense; however the investigator who Attorney Verne Paradie hired, Hank Dusenbery, failed to go to Aroostook to question the men in the text message below which I received after Shane was arrested.
I was present during the sentencing, by Zoom; and I tried to notify Judge Nelson about the text message, but Shane's attorney had him mute me! Justin's own actions just days before the shooting should be considered comparative negligence.
Shane had reason to believe his life or that of others might be in danger. There are other mitigating factors which should be evaluated and the charges dropped or his sentence be much less.
I had sent Attorney Paradie the text between the men, and a link to Aroostook County indictments that I found online the following summer for charges against Justin for things he apparently did before the shooting.
Justin L. Steggall, 27, Limestone: aggravated operating after habitual offender revocation (three counts), eluding an officer, operating after revocation, criminal speed, driving to endanger and operating an unregistered vehicle.
Nelson presided over my case in Aroostook County, AROCD CR 2024 20209, regarding phony disorderly conduct charges. The arrest last summer was without a warrant or probable cause. On May 23, 2025 Nelson ordered me arrested during the eviction matter of Michael Morgan (AKA Goldilocks) in Fort Kent District Court. We've stopped looking for a new tenant/family and should started taking AirBnB bookings in about a week. We had one for mid October but they just cancelled; at least I know the process is working!
Follow my blog to get updates about mine and my son’s cases.
I sent a three-page letter to the court today, four if you include a copy of the threatening text message sent to me from our former tenant/roommate.
In my letter I requested the judge lift the bail conditions keeping me from being at my property, dismiss the case, but if not dismissed I asked to appear by zoom. And I want the evidence against me...there is none, absolutely none! It was a wrongful arrest.
If the District Attorney doesn't dismiss the charges, the presiding judge should file a complaint with the Board of Bar of Overseers against him, for malicious prosecution. Most oversights committees dismiss complaints they receive from ordinary people like you and I.
Oh, and I asked for an investigation of the police officer; I threw that in even though I know the judge won't address it. I didn't want to write a separate letter, so I simply added Lieutenant Brian Harris of Troop F to the cc at the end of the letter to the Superior Court, and sent a copy to him, in Houlton.
Shane says he has never been shown the text mesage below, which I sent to his attorney, Verne Paradie, by email. Paradie hired Investigator Hank Dusenbery who I spoke with; and he confirmed that he never went to the Saint John Valley to find them, never interviewed these guys.
My son is caught up in a system where you're guilty until proven innocent...imprisoned while waiting for counsel to be appointed. A speedy trial can take weeks, months, even years before being scheduled.
Jail rules won't allow me to bring in any paperwork, and when I mailed the text message to Shane it was sent back to me because it's a screenshot...and they're not allowed.
I sent the screenshot and other evidence to Governor Mills, and asked for her help. She has a duty to ensure that the laws of Maine are faithfully executed. I got no reply.
He told me that there was nothing they could do. In order to change a court's decision you'd have to go back through the courts, apparently.
Qualified immunity—the affirmative defense available to government officials sued in damages for violations of federal law—is under renewed assault.
Last month in an article at the Hill, The Supreme crisis of Chief Justice John Roberts, Jonathan Turley mentioned that a recent poll found that less than half of Americans have a favorable view of the United States Supreme Court. That's largely due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But we the people have even lower approval ratings for Congress which is part of the Legislative branch, at only 18%, and the media is only trusted by 32% of people, Turley reported.
As for police, who are part of the executive branch, their approval rating is about the same as that of the justices, only about half. In U.S. Confidence in Institutions Mostly Flat, but Police Up, by Megan Brenan at Gallup:
Faith in the police fell in 2020 to 48% after George Floyd was murdered while in police custody. After increasing to 51% in 2021, confidence in the police dropped again in 2022 and dipped further last year, to a record low of 43%.
Don't expect a decision anytime soon about the intertidial land controversy which the Maine Supreme Court heard today. Intertidal is the word used to describe the land between the low and high tide marks. Here's a Maine Public story by Kaitlyn Budion, at Maine Public: Moody Beach dispute reaches Maine Supreme Court. The justices will probably take forever because they have to first determine if Peter Masucci et al. (and others) have standing because according to the story he's "asking the court to overturn a 1989 decision which says that private land ownership extends to the low tide mark."
Apparently, the signs that were put up are offending people. Here's a story by AnneMarie Hilton, at the Morning Star, with photos of the signs. From Maine's highest court hears arguments for public access to intertidal land case:
If the court clarified that intertidal land is not an easement, but rather subject to the public trust doctrine — which preserves certain natural resources for public use — Parker said they could expand the definition of “fishing, fowling and navigation” without overturning the 1989 ruling.
That's how this issue could be resolved, according to a Maine assistant attorney general, Lauren Parker. The decision in 1989 was by the Maine Supreme Court. I don't know if the court has ever overturned one of their own decisions...that is admitted it made a mistake.
At schools throughout Maine this week the Maine Supreme Court justices are hearing the cases so students can watch. I wanted to attend the event, but couldn't; the public wasn't invited! Upon arriving, I was asked my name by a woman with a list. I wasn't on it, so I couldn't sit and watch.
What? I didn't have any weapons on me. There seemed to be enough space on the bleachers, though I don't know how many students were going to be attending. Nobody seemed to know that. A man who must have been with the justices and the court said it was not their policy. "An email went out to parents and others," I was told at the main office where I went to ask what the situation was.
Do parents want their children to learn about a failing judicial system? We should get students to help develop a new justice system! The current one is too slow; and counsel, which is essential, is being denied people. One of the reasons our ancesters separated from Massachusetts over 100 years ago is that it was taking too long for people in places far north (now Maine) to have their cases heard because of the great distance from the court.
Here's a story at the AP, about an officer who was apparently intoxicated when he crashed into cars and shot a man in the head on June 6, 2024. From the Associated Press story by Karen Mathews, on October 2, 2024:
According to the lawsuit, Tran’s alcoholism and mental health problems were known to his police superiors and should have disqualified him from serving as an armed officer, but he was nonetheless carrying a department-issued 9mm pistol that he used to shoot Patel.
A judge on Tuesday granted Cynthia Young’s petition to become a special administrator of Robert Card’s estate so she can have legal authority to obtain the records for herself, others who lost loved ones, and attorneys preparing lawsuits. The move was not opposed by Card’s son, who is his sole heir.
The suspension stems from the Committee on Judicial Conduct finding that Blaisdell had committed three violations of the code governing judicial conduct, according to the court’s written decision. The first included failing to file federal and state income tax returns for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022; failing to pay court-ordered child support and attorney fees; and acting in contempt of the district court in a family matter in which he was a party. The second violation was failing to respond to the committee despite repeated requests to do so and finally acting with a lack of candor by asserting he’d never received the committee’s letters.
