A West Gardiner man was arrested Friday on an indictment charging him with murder in the June 17 shooting death of James Leslie Haskell Jr.
Derrick L. Dupont, 26, was indicted in the death of Haskell, 41, of Chelsea, who died of “gunshot wounds to the head, neck and abdomen,” according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office.
Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, confirmed Dupont’s arrest Friday afternoon and said he was enroute to the Kennebec County jail.
Dupont’s arrest followed an indictment handed up Thursday by a grand jury sitting in Kennebec County. He is expected to be arraigned Monday during a hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.
No one had been charged previously. State police said in June they interviewed the person who did the shooting, but they did not identify the person.
Details have been slow to emerge in the case.
On June 17, Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office deputies went to the shooting scene at 9 Yeaton Drive in response to a 911 call at about 2:50 a.m. State police detectives joined them there later. There had been a number of people at the home prior to the shooting.
Two days later, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s log indicated, “Caller reports he shot someone.”
Yeaton Drive is just over the Farmingdale line in West Gardiner and directly across the Hallowell-Litchfield Road from Fuller’s Market.
Haskell’s step-mother, Allison Haskell, of North Waterboro, gave an interview with WCSH-6 TV, saying that while she had not seen her stepson in some time, he was working to get his life together.
She said he had struggled with drugs from a young age but that his death was not related to that.
“We loved him and he’s gone,” Haskell said on camera.
On Friday, she posted a notice on Facebook that Dupont had been indicted.
Public records show that Haskell had a lengthy criminal history and did extensive time in prison.
At age 23, he pleaded guilty in Kennebec County Superior Court to charges of gross sexual assault, burglary and reckless conduct, all of which occurred June 19, 1998, in Winthrop, where he lived at the time.
For the gross sexual assault, the most serious crime, he was ordered to serve 16 years in prison.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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