HOULTON, Maine — A Florida man accused of killing an acquaintance at his home in Presque Isle has changed his mind regarding a plea deal in his murder case.
On Wednesday, Robert Craig, 81, of Clearwater, Florida, had reached an agreement with the state attorney general’s office to plead guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in exchange for a 30-year sentence, according to defense attorney Stephen Smith.
But when it came time for Justice Harold L. Stewart II to hear details of the plea deal Thursday afternoon in Houlton Superior Court, Craig, who did not appear for the hearing, had changed his mind.
“We are going to trial,” said Robert “Bud” Ellis, the assistant state attorney general prosecuting the case. “All I can say is we thought we had an agreement reached. That is not going to happen. He has a right to a trial and he has decided to exercise that right.”
Ellis said he was surprised by the defendant’s change of heart.
“We came for a purpose [today] and it didn’t happen,” Ellis said Thursday afternoon.
Jury selection will begin July 10 in Houlton Superior Court. Once a suitable jury has been seated, the trial will take place in Caribou Superior Court.
Defense attorney Smith declined to comment Thursday on his client’s decision.
Craig is accused of murdering 86-year-old Leo Corriveau, whose body was found by family members on July 23, 2016, in the backyard of his Route 1 home in Presque Isle.
Members of the victim’s family were in the courtroom Thursday afternoon when it was announced that there would be no plea agreement. The family declined to speak with reporters after the announcement was made.
Craig was arrested near his home in Clearwater, Florida, on July 28 by two Maine State Police detectives.
Craig and Corriveau had known each other for four years as neighbors in a mobile home community in the Tampa area, where Corriveau spent his winters, according to a court affidavit filed in Presque Isle District Court by Maine State Police Sgt. Darrin Crane.
An autopsy by the state medical examiner determined that Corriveau was strangled, suffered broken ribs and cuts on his arm and head and likely died at least 40 hours before he was found. The affidavit did not specify a motive for the killing.
Corriveau had returned to Maine from Florida on July 12 with Craig, who worked in lawn maintenance in Florida most of his life, according to the affidavit.
Craig stayed with Corriveau for a while in Presque Isle and even met some of Corriveau’s nine grown children. But at one point Corriveau told a relative that Craig was lazy and he wanted him to leave, the affidavit said.
Corriveau’s red Buick Enclave sport-utility vehicle was missing from his home when his body was discovered, but police later found it at Dysart’s in Hermon, where Craig is believed to have driven it before taking a bus back to Florida, according to investigators.
Bangor Daily News writers Nok-Noi Ricker and Jen Lynds contributed to this report.
