Bangor woman charged in stabbing death to undergo psychiatric evaluation

BANGOR, Maine — The woman charged with murder in connection

with the stabbing death of a Bangor man covered her face with her hands and turned her back on news cameras Monday during her first court appearance at the Penobscot Judicial Center.

Gail Judd, 53, of Bangor was charged Thursday in the stabbing death of Michael Drouin, 47. The two had a romantic relationship, according to the police affidavit filed Monday at the courthouse.

Dressed in dark blue prison garb, Judd appeared to be weeping just before the hearing began. She did not address the court.

Drouin died Wednesday as a result of a “stabbing-type wound that penetrated his upper chest area to a depth of approximately two to two and one-half inches and resulted in significant internal bleeding,” according to the affidavit, written by Bangor police Detective Joel Nadeau and filed Monday at the courthouse.

The victim’s father, Joseph Drouin of Winslow, quietly observed the short proceeding. He declined to talk about the case with reporters but met with a Bangor police detective before leaving the courtroom.

Superior Court Justice William Anderson denied Judd bail and ordered that she undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine her competency to stand trial and whether there are other mental health issues that might affect her defense. A bail hearing could be held at a later date, the judge said.

Anderson set April 2 as the date for Judd’s arraignment. She is expected to be indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury when it meets on Wednesday or in late March.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor declined to discuss the details of the case as he left the courthouse.

“At this point, I have very little information,” Silverstein said.

He said that he would explore the circumstances surrounding the case, including Judd’s alleged claim to neighbors that she stabbed Drouin after he raped her.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson also said little about the case at an impromptu press conference outside the judicial center. He declined to say whether a rape kit was administered to Judd.

Drouin was found about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday on the bedroom floor of Judd’s apartment at 67 Court St. in Bangor, according to the affidavit. He was shirtless, wearing boxer shorts with his pants around his ankles.

Judd told police that she and Drouin had gone to her apartment together Wednesday. She said that at some point he began to hold her and press her against the stove in the kitchen, according to the affidavit. She said that he wouldn’t stop and she grabbed a knife from the nearby counter and threatened him with it.

Judd said that she only cut him with the knife once and that, at some point, Drouin got the knife away from her and began stabbing himself in the chest, according to the affidavit. Judd also said that she did not call 911 because she was scared at the sight of blood.

The story Judd told police appears to contradict the results of an autopsy performed Thursday by Dr. Michael Ferenc, deputy chief medical examiner for the state of Maine. He observed in his report that “blood spatter configurations on the victim and his clothes, specifically his socks, appeared to have a downward direction of travel indicating that he was alive and standing at the time he sustained the blood-letting injury,” the affidavit stated.

If convicted, Judd would be the second member of her family to be imprisoned for murder. Her brother Jeffrey Cookson, 47, formerly of Guilford, is serving two consecutive life sentences for the 1999 execution-style shooting of his ex-girlfriend and the 21-month-old boy she was baby-sitting.

Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer confirmed Monday that Judd and Cookson are brother and sister. Judd and Cookson were listed as two of eight children in the obituary for Shirley L. Judkins, who died in 2007.

Judd was listed as living in Dover-Foxcroft in the obituary and Cookson was listed as living in Warren, where the Maine State Prison is located.

Cookson and Judd, along with their siblings, grew up in Guilford, according to previously published reports.

Judd and Cookson’s father, Roland Cookson Sr., was slain in the early 1980s, according to a 1999 story in the Bangor Daily News.

Evidence, including the murder weapon, that Cookson claims will clear him was found after his trial near the home of his brother Scott Cookson in Dover-Foxcroft, according to previously published reports. Jeffrey Cookson is seeking to have a gun, shoes and clothing tested for DNA.

Attorneys handling Cookson’s appeal have argued in court documents that DNA tests on that evidence would show someone else pulled the trigger and killed Mindy Gould, 20, and Treven Cunningham, both of Dexter, in December 1999.

That case is pending before Superior Court Justice Roland Cole, who presided over Cookson’s murder trial and sentenced him.

Cookson’s sister was well-known to Bangor police before she was arrested Friday and charged with murder, according to Bangor Daily News archives.

On Feb. 10, 2011, she threatened to jump out the window if police entered her Union Street apartment, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said at the time. She had been yelling from inside the apartment when police arrived, Edwards said. She was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

After there was a suspicious fire at the apartment building a short time later, she was arrested early the next morning and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.

Judd was arrested again on Feb. 15, 2011, for violating her bail conditions after she allegedly caused a disturbance at the Rite Aid on Third Street.

BDN reporter Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.