A new trial date has yet to be set in the case against 35-year-old Matthew Davis, according to Assistant Attorney General Leanne Zainea.
The prosecutor said the delay was needed after Davis requested and was granted a change in defense attorneys by Aroostook County Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter.
Daniel Lilley of Portland has replaced Presque Isle lawyers James Dunleavy and Sarah Leclaire as Davis’ defense attorney. Zainea did not know why the change was requested and efforts to reach Lilley, Dunleavy and Leclaire have been unsuccessful.
Davis, 35, is accused of killing Michael Kitchen, 51, and Heidi Pratt, 49, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.
Neighbors of the victims heard five or six gunshots at about 4:30 a.m. and then saw a lone male driver leaving the scene of the burning home in a pick-up truck, according to an affidavit written by Maine State Police Detective Elmer Farren.
The bodies of Kitchen and Pratt were found in a bedroom after firefighters were called to put out the fire.
An autopsy conducted at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta determined that Kitchen died from multiple gunshot wounds and Pratt from a gunshot wound to the neck. The wounds were inflicted by a semi-automatic rifle purchased by Davis, according to the affidavit. Davis never reported the gun stolen and it was found lying across Kitchen’s body in the burned remnants of the home, according to the court document.
Firefighters also found another truck belonging to Katahdin Forest Products on fire at the home when they arrived. Police believe Davis’ spree of mayhem started earlier that morning at the forest products facility in Oakfield, where a flatbed wrecker truck registered to Davis had been backed into the building, and both that truck and office had caught fire. Police said video surveillance from that site shows the same white company truck that was found burning at the Kitchen home leaving the scene.
The truck Davis allegedly drove from the Kitchen home was found burning later that Monday morning on Richardson Road in the neighboring town of Island Falls. Another firearm found inside that vehicle belonged to Davis, according to the affidavit.
Police eventually tracked down Davis and arrested him at about 10:45 a.m. that Monday in another stolen vehicle on Beaver Dam Point Road in Island Falls, according to the affidavit.
Davis did not enter a plea when he made his initial court appearance on Sept. 25, 2013. Two months after his arrest, he was indicted on two counts of murder, four counts of arson, three counts each of theft and aggravated criminal mischief. He has been held without bail since his arrest.
