MACHIAS, Maine — An Eastport man previously charged with aggravated assault in connection with the suspicious death of a 75-year-old man in September has been indicted on a manslaughter charge.
Hazen McDugald, 39, was arrested Sept. 17 and charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of violating bail in connection with the Sept. 10 death of Maurice “Allen” Harris of Eastport.
But the Washington County grand jury has determined that McDugald “did recklessly or with criminal negligence cause the death of another human being,” according to a criminal docket provided Monday by Timothy Feeley, spokesperson for the Maine attorney general’s office.
The grand jury also indicted McDugald on Nov. 5 on charges of aggravated assault and violation of condition of release.
In a previously sealed affidavit that was released Monday from Calais District Court, Maine State Police Detective Micah Perkins said he believed McDugald assaulted Harris “with extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
Police first were to the Harris home at 3 Clark St. at 10:21 p.m. Sept. 10 after an employee of the Eastport Residential Care Facility across the street called to say they had heard “yelling and screaming” coming from the house, according to the affidavit.
When Eastport police Officer David Claroni arrived, he recognized McDugald, who he had arrested twice in the last year, walking outside between Harris’ vehicle and the house.
When the officer asked about the screaming, McDugald stated that “his uncle was hard of hearing and that they had been watching the movie ‘Halloween,’” according to the affidavit.
Claroni then asked McDugald to stay put until he could make contact with Harris, but “McDugald ignored his command and fled,” according to the court document.
When he couldn’t get Harris to come to the door, Claroni forced his way into the home and found the body on the floor of the porch with “blood on and near the man’s face.”
EMS personnel who came to the home pronounced the man dead and the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit was called to investigate.
Maine State Police Detective Jonah O’Roak found a knife with bloodstains on it stuck into the plywood wall a short distance from the body.
“Subsequent analysis and comparison of blood stains found at the scene and DNA obtained from McDugald resulted in a match, proving McDugald’s presence at the scene,” says the affidavit.
Claroni and other officers soon found McDugald in an upstairs bedroom at a nearby residence. His clothes appeared to be bloody, he had cuts on his hand and he was wearing what appeared to be bloody bandages, according to the affidavit.
McDugald told police that he cut his hands and face when he fell off a roughly 15-foot-high bank onto some rocks earlier that night. He denied being at the Harris residence.
After an autopsy of Harris’ body, Dr. Clair Bryce of the state medical examiner’s office reported finding “abrasions and cuts about the face and jaw area resulting from blunt force. She also noted minor injuries about the throat area … an enlarged heart and other evidence of heart disease,” according to the affidavit.
While the document did not give an exact cause of death, it stated that Bryce determined the injuries could not have been caused by a simple fall and that if “the injuries are the result of an interaction with another person, the death would be considered a homicide. Her final findings and conclusions are pending further investigation and studies.”
Feeley said no court dates have been set and no judge has been assigned to the case.
McDugald was out on bail on unrelated charges when he was arrested on Sept. 17. According to the grand jury indictment, he also was charged with violating a condition of that bail for allegedly being in possession of a knife the day he was taken into custody.
McDugald faces aggravated assault and domestic violence assault charges in connection with a July 7 incident involving his father. Hazen McDugald was not indicted last week in connection with that case.
“Our case will be subordinate to any possible charges made by the attorney general’s office,” Washington County District Attorney Matthew Foster said Monday, referring to the domestic assault case. “So we are waiting to see what they do. He may be indicted at a later date, but no decision has been made at this point.”
McDugald remains incarcerated at the Washington County Jail in Machias, Feeley said Monday.