Opinion: Domestic violence in Maine is out of hand

Originally published in Portland Press Herald

January 24, 2025

By Patrisha McLean

Week in, week out, we are reminded of how weakly our legal system approaches this crime.

Just when we need stronger laws to stem a raging epidemic of domestic violence in Maine we have a state lawmaker, Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Sanford, indicted for allegedly strangling his wife.

How did we get here? We need only look behind news headlines of other instances of domestic violence for clues — and for everyone to realize it is time for serious changes.

Dusty O’Brien was 19 when he was first arrested: Assault, dismissed in a plea deal. Criminal activity followed across Knox, Oxford, Cumberland and York counties. This includes Class A felonies of aggravated assault with a firearm and burglary with a firearm, and 10 charges of violating probation and conditions of release.

And yet when he was arrested for domestic violence, Maine’s judicial system let him out on bail. He then allegedly strangled his pregnant partner on Christmas Eve. The Maine State Police turned to Facebook for help finding him.

News out of Bangor earlier this month was that Aric Houghton slashed his face with a razor to frame his partner for assault. Somewhat lost in the story was that Houghton was charged with domestic violence aggravated assault on a Tuesday and released from custody to be arrested on a Wednesday, one day later, on a new DV aggravated assault charge. “DV aggravated assault” in Maine means strangulation or use of a dangerous weapon; serious or permanent disfigurement; or loss or substantial impairment of an organ.

According to news reports, “When officers located the other party she reported Houghton had a key and had entered her apartment and attacked her again. She told officers she felt he was there to kill her.”

Then there’s Richard Thorpe. Darcia Maney met him when he was in prison. During a five-year courtship behind bars he was “literally the sweetest man you could meet.” That changed when he got out.

Maney said she agreed to testify in his trial for the domestic violence he committed against, including assault and terrorizing, her after district attorney’s office officials told her that if she did, he could get a prison sentence of 25 years.

On the stand in 2021, “I was reliving the hell this man put us through and the whole time he was standing there, arms crossed, staring at me, pure black in his eyes.” She said she told prosecutors after that, “If he gets out [of prison] he will kill me within 24 hours.”

Thorpe’s release in 2024 came with two years left to serve on the five-year prison sentence of his plea deal. Maney says she was not notified of his release.

Thorpe was released in Bangor in February. April is when he met Virginia Cookson, a 39-year-old mother of two. By September, Virginia was dead, strangled to death, with Thorpe charged with her murder.

There is now a new Violence Prevention Office in Maine. This state office is charged with coordinating and promoting “effective efforts to reduce violence.” A six-paragraph announcement in December named the director, Jamie Bourque, and listed the office’s priorities for “healthier and safer Maine families.”

Domestic violence is not mentioned.