BANGOR, Maine — The South Dakota man charged with slaying and setting ablaze a local homeless man camping along the Kenduskeag Stream six years ago was sentenced Friday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to 15 years with all but seven years suspended for manslaughter.
Kenneth John Bruning, 26, of Rapid City, S.D., also was sentenced to four years of probation in the death of Trevor Sprague, 34, who was homeless at the time of his death.
In exchange for pleading guilty to manslaughter, the murder charge against Bruning was dismissed.
Bangor police confirmed last year that Bruning also was a member of Bangor’s transient population when Sprague was killed.
Information about how Sprague died was made public for the first time during Friday’s 45-minute hearing before Superior Court Justice William Anderson.
The Lubec native died of strangulation and then was set on fire, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said. The prosecutor said that DNA obtained from blood found on one of Sprague’s shoes matched a sample of DNA taken from Bruning. DNA from droplets found in a trail of blood that led from the scene toward the Intown Plaza at the intersection of Kenduskeag Avenue and Harlow Street also matched Bruning’s DNA.
Although Benson said that Bruning’s DNA was matched to DNA from blood found at the crime scene in 2010, it appears that Bruning’s DNA was not entered into a national FBI database until after he was convicted of a felony in South Dakota.
He was serving a two-year sentence for burglary and possession of methamphetamine in South Dakota when he was interviewed by Bangor police in summer 2010. He admitted knowing Sprague but denied harming him, Benson said.
Bruning was indicted in November 2010 by the Penobscot County grand jury for murder. He was returned to Maine the following June and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
On Friday, Bruning waived indictment, pleaded guilty to what is called an information and entered an Alford plea, named for the U.S. Supreme Court case North Carolina v. Alford decided in 1970. It is “a guilty plea that a defendant enters as part of a plea bargain, without actually admitting guilt,” according to Black’s Law Dictionary.
The defendant did not address the judge but the victim’s younger sister, Terry Sprague Taylor of Westbrook, did. Struggling to control her emotions, Taylor cried as she read a statement she said was the result of many drafts.
In one, she criticized the defendant “because he does not have the courage to take responsibility for my brother’s death and plead guilty to murder. But I decided that the amount of time he serves will not bring my brother back.
“I hope he understands what he did wrong and regrets the pain he has caused me, my family and his own,” she said. “I hope the defendant makes changes in his life and takes advantage of this tremendous opportunity he’s been granted and turns his life around.”
By pleading guilty to the lesser charge, Bruning admitted that with the evidence the state had, a jury could find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of manslaughter. He did not, however, admit that he killed Sprague or set him on fire.
Sprague’s body was found face down and on fire under the Harlow Street Bridge on March 7, 2006. The Lubec native and Bangor transient was known to camp along the Kenduskeag Stream.
Bruning’s trial on the murder charge had been scheduled to begin July 30 at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.
Both Benson and defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor told Anderson that they worked out the plea agreement to avoid going to trial and risking a verdict in the other side’s favor. The judge accepted the plea agreement and imposed the recommended sentence but called Sprague’s death “a horrendous and horrible crime.”
If convicted of murder, Bruning would have faced a sentence of between 25 years and life. The maximum sentence for a manslaughter conviction is 30 years.
In October 2009 in Bangor District Court, Bruning was convicted of a misdemeanor assault that occurred at what is now the Hope House, a homeless shelter near the University of Maine at Augusta, Bangor campus. The assault took place two weeks after Sprague’s death, according to previously published reports.
In addition to the murder charge, Bruning faced a local charge of failure to pay the fine for the assault.
Anderson said he would have to pay those fines while on probation for the manslaughter charge.
He has been held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail since being returned to Maine from South Dakota nearly a year ago. That time is expected to be credited to his manslaughter sentence.
What a slap in the face to the family and friends of the victim. For God’s sake this was not a case of simple murder…the victim was set on FIRE! WTH is the matter with the tools making these deals? They need to be replaced.
I agree just because the man was homeless is no reason to settle for such a short sentence.
It was a spineless judge.
Just like when he was a D.A.
Any idea what citizens can do when the judge’s are negligent in their duties ? Are they “above the law” ? May be the judge would have his job; if it would have been one of his family members. Bangor Daily; if you were ever looking for a story try this; citizens feel their judge needs to be replaced.
7 years?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me?
The justice system never ceases to amaze me. WOW!!
Marvelous sentencing job. The prosecutor
should be fired for even doing a plea bargain.
It seems a life in Maine is very cheap now a days. Only 7 years in jail? WOW 4 years probation until he kills and burns alive another person. Seems Maine’s judges are really OUT TO LUNCH.You get a longer sentence for growing a few Marijuana plants.
7 years with credit for time served????? The sentence is a complete joke—he will be out before the 7 too. He also had a previous felony.
The man from indian island whose only crime was possession of a sawed off shotgun he kept out in a woodshed got 4 years 3 months in prison. (granted that was a federal charge) But still disparity in sentencing appears to be a real concern here.
The DA should face a recall election and the prosecutor should be fired.
and the judge run out of town!
Ive never protested in my life but we should all be on the steps of the Penobscot Judicial Center screaming at the tops of our lungs…WHAT AN OUTRAGE. Beating a man to death and setting him on fire gets 7 years? UNREAL.
In many states this guy could have been looking at death row or life in prison.
But then again we do not know what evidence the prosecution did or did not have. Not releasing the details that led to this plea bargian makes me to wonder if there should be more transparency and disclosure of material facts by the prosecutor, otherwise people are just left to guess about how effective and how well the prosecutors are doing their jobs. This is a murder case after all.
I guess it is just easier to “bust” kids riding their bikes at night without a headlight.
True, there needs to be more transparency and disclosure of material facts by the prosecutor. One could also guess that the D.A.’s office may not have had the benefit of a thorough enough police investigation resulting in adequate evidence to move forward on a trial. I don’t believe any judge or prosecutor is satisfied with being put into a position of needing to approve these types of plea deals in order to secure jail time for a defendant they highly suspect, or know, is guilty but the evidence just wasn’t there for them to move forward to a trial that would procure a guilty verdict. It is sad that this murderer couldn’t have been given a life sentence but apparently the evidence wasn’t there to guarantee a conviction. Maybe he will get his punishment in prison.
OMG!!! and credit for time served…. so thats 6 years and time off for “Good time”” as its called so we are looking at in 3 to 4 years Mr wonderful will be on Maine streets serving his 4 years probation…. all I can say is WOW!
Tragic.
A transient kills a man and then sets him on fire.
The DA and the judge in their great wisdom decide to turn the murder loose in 7 years.
Sorry folks , Im not making this stuff up.
I hope the murder pays his fine from a previous charge.
You sure its not too many days for him to serve.
Nobody can prove he set him on fire. That is why they offered him the plea deal.
Sometimes (most times) our judicial system makes me sick. That’s all I can say.
That’s what a man’s life and dignity are worth, a measely seven years?
Let’s give a round of applause to the injustice of the case. Give the prosecutor a gold medal, the judge an Emmy for his performance, and the defense for an Alford plea and actually taking advantage of the intelligence of the judge and the prosecution. I am sure all three after the performance stopped and grabbed a bite to eat and a drink together to discuss how they can work on towards a lighter sentence for the next guy
I wonder if his heritage had anything to do with his short sentence.. Thats the defense Ben and Kelly Humpries used years ago when they murdered a man on Old Orchard Beach.
15 years is not a light sentence.
15 years is not a light sentence for murder? I bet you would singing a different tune if he killed one of your family members!
And you don’t know if he did commit the murder. Just because he took a plea deal doesn’t mean he is guilty.
If he wasn’t guilty, why take a plea deal? If I was accused of a crime that I didn’t commit, I’d be damned if I would take a deal. If the state had a case they could prove without reasonable doubt, they would not have offered the plea.
I’m not going to explain myself twice.
These comments all ignore the fact that absent an attractive plea deal and following a trial, he may have been acquitted. There were no witnesses and no confession or other incriminating statements on the defendants part. In addition to that, prior articles suggest he had significant mental health issues. They did have DNA putting him at the scene, but that’s a long way from a slam dunk conviction. He could allege self defense or that he was with another person who did it or that he found the dead body, looted it, and then set it on fire. Based upon what I’ve read I don’t see how the state would disprove any of those theories and even the most bizarre explanations could be explained away by the defendants mental health issues. The trial is not about what probably happened, it’s about whether there can be any reasonable possibility it didn’t happen the way the state has alleged. This was good work on the part of the state, Silverstein and the judge.
If the states case was weak, why not take the chance and go to trial? If the chances were good he’d be acquitted, why take the deal?
The chances may or may not have been good that he would be acquitted, no one has heard his explanation. A trial would have risks for both sides. It made a lot more sense for them to all meet in the middle rather than risk realizing their worst case scenario.
If the state knew they would have great difficulty proving their case, it would have been reckless to press this to trial despite that. The offer was an acknowledgement that the case had problems. The defendants acceptance of that offer was an acknowledgment that, despite those problems, there was still a significant risk he could be convicted. The judges acceptance of the agreement was an acknowledgment that the two attorneys were best situated to size up the the relative strengths and weaknesses of this case.
Everyone here did their job well and justice was served. It’s a tragic case and reflects poorly on society in general, but the end result of the criminal proceeding was the product of rational decision making not a broken justice system.
Thank you for saying what I was thinking. The man also did receive a 15 year sentence which
most people ignore. He could end up serving the entire sentence if he screws up.
15 years is not enough, either for what he did…..just sayin
What did he do? Nobody has any sort of proof that he killed him.
If there is doubt of what he may or may not have done, why take the plea?
Because he controls his own fate by doing so.
If he didnt think that a jury would prove him guilty and he would get a much longer sentence, he certainly wouldnt have opted for the plea. I see your argument and understand how easy it is to get off in this state, but cmon, the guy was guilty as sin and he knew it.
Superior Court Justice William Anderson was appointed by…drumroll please…John Baldacci.
Maine’s tradition of namby-pamby, slap on the wrist “justice” rolls on.
Just by Bruning taking the plea tells me he’s guilty. If the state did not have enough evidence to convict him with a murder charge, he should have refused the deal and taken his chances. Something just doesn’t sit right with this whole senerio.
I hope that the prosecuter and judge never have to deal with the heartache Trevor’s friends and family have had to endure the past few years. This sentence makes a mockery of Maine’s judicial system. I hope you sleep well from now on!
RIP Trevor. I hope you know just how many people are not satified with this decision. You were certainly a gentle giant and did not deserve this.
Good thing he didn’t kill 5 people that could have been some serious time in jail!
Seven years? And that’s without “good time”. Are you kidding me? They had DNA and a blood trail…not to mention a history of violence already. This guy will commit another violent crime…no doubt.
All the more reason judges should be elected, not appointed.
Ah ha but let’s remember, Trevor was gay. That was a black mark against him. Not that the republician judicial system would ever take that into consideration. Nah. 7 years is good. By then ther will be others killing and maiming and heaven forbid we over crowd our jails. That would be against their criminal rights.
So what if Trevor was gay! What does that have to do with the fact that he was a PERSON……..a person who was murdered in a horrendous way! He still has friends and family who loved him.
It is a good thing Trevor Sprague wasn’t a transient. His murderer would have been let go free. What a sham. The judicial system got this one wrong, dead wrong.
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