The news reported each day of Cormier’s trial. The first day of trial was March 28, 2005: My husband and I attended the first day of Cormier’s trial in Portland, Maine, 128 miles south of Bangor. Cormier was brought in in handcuffs. They were taken off before the jury came in. Later in the day, he looked back at Derald and me. Two men testified against him. Court started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 2:30 p.m. so Cormier ould go for his dialysis treatment. I didn’t attend the trial the next day. I was disappointed that I wasn’t there when I read in the newspaper that many witnesses had testified, including Cormier’s girlfriend from Massachusetts.
On March 30, 2005, Wednesday—Derry and I attended the trial along with his daughter, Kelli. Court ended again at 2:30 p.m. for Cormier’s dialysis treatment. His treatments were scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Derry and I left the courtroom for a break. Derry was holding the door open for me when he looked back at Cormier. He said Cormier was looking directly at him and Derry gave him a big smile to let him know we were pleased with the situation he was in. There was a clock behind us on the back wall over the courtroom doors. Twice, Cormier looked back at the clock, and then looked directly at me before he turned back around. I don’t know if he knew who I was, but I believe someone had told him. I stared at the sick-looking face. He had no hair, a handlebar mustache, and an unhealthy color to his face (from spending time in prison). To me, he looked like a walrus.
Kelli was called to the stand to testify that day. Cormier was saying he was not in the Bangor area, but she had seen Cormier in Bangor. Kelli was born one year after her Uncle Mike’s murder and she ended up as a witness against his murderer; very strange!
On February 18, 1993, at 11 years old Kelli wrote a little poem about the night her Uncle Mike was murdered:
In a red Pinto you arrived between 12 and 4. I knew who you were, I had seen you before. As I breathed my last breath upon broken glass from the door you left me to die in my ashes on the floor.I spoke with P. I. Buchanan about the trial one evening after I returned home. He said he was home sick. As we talked, he said he tried to do something about Shuman’s perjury during Cormier’s August 1986 trial, but wasn’t able to. I said Shuman obstructed justice, and he said, “He sure did!” I will always be thankful to “Bucky” Buchanan for his help and support during my struggle to get something done about my son’s violent murder. One day while talking with him about Mike’s murder, he made the statement that “something isn’t kosher.”
On Thursday, March 31, I didn’t attend the trial. But on Friday, April 1, Derry and I drove back to Portland. We got there early and went to a Starbucks coffee shop on a street behind the federal courthouse. The Victim Advocate prosecutor had told Derry that the trial would end that day.
After we got back to the courthouse and were seated, Coleman came and sat in the bench ahead of us and and turned toward Derry and me to talk for a few minutes. He told us that Matt Stewart was a “good guy.” He said Stewart said he was sorry about my son’s case, but his hands were tied, because he was under Shuman. Coleman said Pinkham was working for FEMA at this time, and he was going to see him. I knew Pinkham had retired from the Maine State Police a few years back and a chill went through me when I thought he meant Pinkham would be involved in Mike’s case again. I said, “He isn’t involved in Mike's case now, is he?” He said, “No, I want to ask him why he told you what he did and then denied it.” If Coleman ever asked Pinkham about what he had told me in 1981, he never told me.
The closing arguments didn’t end until nearly 1:30 p.m. Derry and I found a pizza place and had lunch. After lunch, the jury deliberations began. Cormier’s attorney motioned the court for a mistrial due to something U. S. Federal Prosecutor Gale Malone said about Cormier in her closing statements. I can’t remember what she said that nearly caused a mistrial. I was a nervous wreck until the judge told her that she had come dangerously close to causing one.
Cormier went for dialysis at 3:30 p.m. and his treatment lasted for five hours. At nearly 5:00 p.m., the jury was brought in and told that Cormier’s dialysis treatment wouldn’t end until 8:30 p.m., so he wouldn’t be back in the courtroom until 9:00 p.m. or later. Because of this, the judge gave them a choice of finishing their deliberations now or on Monday. The jury chose to finish their deliberations that day.
During the wait for Cormier to return, I sat in a chair in the hall near the doors to the courtroom and Derry stayed outside on the courthouse steps, talking with Coleman, Victim advocate/Prosecutor Gail Malone, and Detective Tall, a Bangor PD Detective. Some negative comments were made about Shuman because his obituary in the Bangor Daily News stated that all of his cases were closed when he retired. Derry learned some interesting things during his conversation with them. He learned that the State of Maine didn’t want Cormier. Derry said he was told it was because his dialysis treatments were too expensive. The Bangor PD detective told Derry that it was during Coleman’s investigation of Mike’s murder that he was able to get Cormier for the armed robberies. I will always be thankful to Coleman for getting Cormier put back behind bars. It was said if Cormier was given a life sentence for the robberies, the State of Maine would not go to the expense of prosecuting Cormier for Mike’s murder. I would like for the State of Maine to at least admit that Cormier, Pollard, and Percy Sargent killed my son.
On our way home, the VA prosecutor called Derry and told him they had reached a verdict, but it would be Monday morning, April 4, before it could be read. On Monday, Derry and I drove the two hours back to Portland to hear the verdict. We got there at 7:45 a.m. and court was scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. We walked back to Starbucks to pass some time before returning to the courthouse. Derry sat in a chair beside the courtroom doors while he waited for me to return from the ladies’ room. As I came back down the long hall, I could see Coleman and Derry talking. Derry told me later that Coleman had asked if I was there when he didn’t see me. When I reached them, Coleman told us that Cormier had made the statement, “There’s going to be another murder,” after one of his cohorts testified against him. He also threatened his attorney. He told him he would kill him if he didn’t do his job.
Cormier was brought into the courtroom in chains and handcuffs. They weren’t removed as they had been the week before. There was extra security in the courtroom. Cormier was found guilty on all five counts. The newspapers reported he was shackled because of something that had happened in the courtroom with another defendant on Friday. But, Derry and I believed it was because of his threats.
Coleman said Cormier told investigators he robbed drug dealers for a living. Prosecutor Malone tried to use the information, but the judge wouldn’t allow it. His previous bad acts couldn’t be used either. Bangor PD Detective Tall told Derry that Coleman “got a lot of men put away,” while investigating your brother’s murder. There was some conversation that day concerning Shuman being incompetent, though I believe it was more than incompetence with Shuman.
While Derry was outside with the prosecutor, Coleman and Officer Tall, he listened to them tell a story about the day they arrested Cormier. Derry said they laughed while they told it. Cormier’s girlfriend was a nurse and she had Cormier on a donor list for a kidney transplant. He was to go in the hospital the day the detectives arrested him. Cormier was livid when they arrived to arrest him just a few hours before his admission time. The detectives thought that was funny. Cormier knew he was facing a death sentence if he wasn’t admitted to the hospital that day. And so it was; Cormier died in a federal prison in 2009, less than 4 years later. A little justice for my son, and we thank a great Maine State Police Homicide Detective by the name of Gerald Coleman.
Three weeks before Cormier's sentence, the BDN reported Shuman’s death. His obituary on June 7, 2005 reported that he died June 2, 2005 (he was 65 years old) "at a Pensacola, Florida hospice, after a year- long battle with cancer. Barry served a distinguished 28-year career in the Maine State Police, rising through the ranks from Trooper to Detective Sergeant. He retired his post in 1997 with all of his cases closed. Never one to settle down” the obituary said, “as he continued to serve the community at the Penobscot County Courthouse until he moved to Florida in 2004.”
I really don’t feel comfortable disagreeing with a man’s obituary, but I am stumped by the statement, “He retired his post in 1997 with all of his cases closed.” Maybe Shuman did feel that Mike’s brutal murder was a closed case after he was instrumental in having three ‘innocent’ men indicted for Mike’s murder. But, Shuman disregarded the fact that the indictment was secured with perjured testimony.
Shawn flew to Maine from his home in Indiana on Saturday, June 25, to attend the sentencing of Lionel Cormier. Coleman arrived at my home the afternoon of June 27. My phone number had been changed and he couldn’t reach me. He said something might come up about Mike during Cormier’s sentencing, and he wanted me to be aware of it, but didn’t say what it might be. I told him I had seen Shuman’s obituary in the BDN. He said he had gone to the funeral and heard one of Shuman’s sons say the same thing about his father.
Court in Portland was to begin at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28. Shawn, Derry, his son, Jay, and I all left early to have time to meet with Coralee (daughter), who was driving up from Massachusetts. We left home in two vehicles because Shawn and I were driving to Indiana after court. When we were near Portland, Derry called us on his cell phone and asked us to go beyond the Portland exit we had intended to take and stop at the first restaurant beyond it, to meet up with Coralee, and he could take some video. After taking some video, we all followed Derry to a location near the courthouse and found a parking place.
We were early, so we decided to go to the pizza place Derry and I had eaten at that spring. As we walked the short distance back to the courthouse Mike was on my mind and I kept thinking we are here Mike to see the scumbag get what he finally has coming to him.
The courtroom door was still locked when we arrived on the second floor. There was a woman standing to the left of the door who was peering in the little window at the top of the door. She ignored us as we stood waiting and talking. I later learned that she was a BDN reporter I had spoken with in Bangor and she had told me that she would see me at the trial in Portland, but she didn't identify herself. She completely ignored me. Derry and I filled Shawn and Coralee in on some of what we had learned in court in March and April. Coleman and Tall arrived and we talked over some of the case with them. Coleman again said that Mike’s name might be brought up during the sentencing. This was good news to me, but I wondered why his name would be brought up.
Shortly after we were seated in the courtroom, Cormier was brought in, in his orange prison suit and handcuffs. As I’ve said, he looked like a walrus with his bald head and his handlebar mustache, but he now looked more menacing. I immediately noticed that Cormier had a new lawyer. Coleman had mentioned his threats, and I later learned that the attorney who represented him during his trial withdrew when Cormier threatened to have him killed if he was found guilty.
Lionel Cormier’s sentencing
The following is from a transcript of Cormier’s sentencing hearing in U. S. District Court in Portland, Maine before Honorable George Z. Singal, Chief Judge, on June 28, 2005:
U. S. Federal Prosecutor Gail Malone's closing argument:
This defendant has an unbroken chain of violent convictions starting at age 19 that is adequately set forth in the presentence report so I won’t reiterate them here.Cormier’s Defense Attorney addressed the court
Mr. Cormier is not just a lifelong violent felon. The government requests that the Court consider that at the age of 21, Cormier adopted a ruthless style that sets him apart, even from other armed robbers. At the age of 21 he committed his first armed robbery. The facts of that are set forth in the presentence report and suggest that he first stole the victim’s belongings and threatened to kill the victim but he didn’t stop there. He didn’t stop with what he set to achieve. He brought him to the woods, tied him to a tree and left him there.
At the age of 33 he was convicted of two separate counts of robbery and one count of aggravated assault. In fact in many respects it is hauntingly similar to this case. The victim was a drug dealer and they [Cormier’s brother Paul Pollard, Percy Sargent, and Richard Sargent] put guns to his face, handcuffed him, and threatened him with death and in that case beat him significantly, and got a significant amount of money and drugs.
Three months later they returned, Mr. Cormier and the co-defendants [Paul Pollard and Robert Smith] and robbed him again. And again put guns to his face and again threatened him to death and again got significant amounts of drugs and money.
Consistent with the conviction at the age of 21, he didn’t stop there, it was not enough to have the drugs and the money. This time he cut the victim’s ear off.
He was released from his incarceration on that offense in September of 2002 and the trial testimony established that he almost immediately started reaching out for his prison buddies ..., all of them he had served time with. ...
The government suggests two reasons that he turned to them for backup for his criminal plans. First, they were criminals themselves, they knew the game, he could count on them. Perhaps more importantly they knew him. They knew that he was ruthless. They knew that he cut someone’s ear off, because he told them himself. He made no bones about it. He didn’t need to establish himself to this crowd; he had their respect which is so important on the street.
And in short order after being released from incarceration, the trial testimony shows that he formulated a plan to start robbing drug dealers again.
The government suggests that pattern of ruthlessness at 21 returned when [one of the men] didn’t want to go along with him, Mr. Cormier shot a gun at him.
Cormier boasts about murdering Mike
When [another man] didn’t want to go along, he made threats to him, discussing a homicide that he had been involved with.
And what did he say to [this man]? He killed Mr. Cochran by burning his camp down. 1
Now, in the face of Mr. Cormier’s history, and on the facts of this situation, who is going to say no to this guy? He shows up at [an] ... apartment unannounced with guns and starts talking about a homicide and says, “It’s too late to back out.” ... At [this home] ... he knew there were kids in the house and he went anyway. He used a firearm to break the door down. [The same as he did the night he killed Mike. Ricker said un-smoked broken glass from the door was found under Mike’s body.]
At [the man’s home] a dog is barking so he beats it near to death with a golf club. ...
After [one of the men] falls out of contact, he says, “If you’re talking to the police, I’ll burn your house down or worse,” the one thing that reduced [the man] to tears on the stand, “I’ll shoot your grandmother.” Nobody who knew Mr. Cormier or knew his past had any doubts about whether the threats were real. And when he was finally arrested in this case, as Mr. Tall has testified, there is not a jail where [a witness against Cormier] will be safe.
When he gets to trial he threatens defense counsel and he threatens government witnesses with, “They’d better hope I’m not convicted because if I’m convicted, there will be hell to pay.”
Don’t think for a minute that these witnesses don’t know exactly how dangerous this guy is. [The State of Maine ignored “how dangerous this guy (was)” for many, many years.]
First of all these offenses, short of ending the life of another person, are among one of the most serious acts of violence against another person.
Lionel Cormier has been throwing his weight around for close to 30 years. It is well time for the criminal justice system to throw a little back at him. He shows no signs of remorse. He has no regard for life or law. In light of all these factors the best we can hope for is to protect the public from Mr. Cormier for as long as legally possible.
In light of this, Your Honor, it is without hesitation that the government recommends the maximum sentence allowable under the law. Thank you.
Attorney Robert Napolitano: May it please the Court, Your Honor, Your Honor, no matter what sentence this Court gives Mr. Cormier, I believe he has been on dialysis for quite a while and at his age, he is probably too old for a kidney transplant. [Cormier was born Sept. 18, 1952. He was sentenced June of 2005, making him 52 at the time.] I would suggest that the most that Mr. Cormier will be alive for would be another five to seven years. Obviously his sentence is going to be much larger than five to seven.Lionel Cormier addressed the court
I can’t speak for his record. I don’t know what happened at trial. [Recall, the attorney who represented Cormier during his trial withdrew when Cormier threatened to kill him if he was found guilty.]
I was appointed for sentencing and I ask the judge to view the facts that this defendant, no matter what sentence, is a death sentence. [He lived 24 years after he killed Mike—the age Mike was when Cormier, Pollard, and Percy Cormier took his life.] Mr. Cormier himself would like to speak.
I mean, it’s hard to talk to Ms. Malone. You know, charging me with the Cochran murder when I have not been charged with it, or even indicted, or even questioned about it except by Mr. Coleman himself, which is probably obvious from all the charges I have. I’ve been caught for everything I have done so if I would have done this Cochran issue, obviously I would have been convicted and sentenced to life.Judge Singal sentences Cormier
So, you know, throwing extra material into the mix clouds the water here. I don’t know how you’re going to make a decision. Any sentence you give me is a life sentence. I already know that because I’m through. But by the same token, I have been in jail all my life, you know. Do you think I need the government to throw some of their weight on me? It’s almost ludicrous. How can they throw any more on me, you know?
I just hope you keep an open mind and save a spot in the cemetery for me, if you can.
Thank you, Mr. Cormier. ... All right, Mr. Cormier, the Congress of the United States has indicated that I need to take a number of factors into account in determining sentence in this case.
In setting the sentence in this case. I have considered each of these factors, those include the nature and circumstances of the offenses which you have been convicted of, the history and record that you’ve had, the seriousness of the offenses, the need to promote respect for the law, the need to provide you with just punishment for your offenses, the need for deterrence not only of you but that you do not commit additional offenses against the public in general and to send a message to the public.
We need to protect the public from your further crimes. [The Maine Attorney General’s office refused to do that.] The impact of these crimes on the victims, the prospect for your rehabilitation—I have considered each of those factors very carefully in this case.
I have also carefully considered the sentencing range set forth in the sentencing guidelines and your personal characteristics. I believe the sentence in this case is compatible with the guideline sentence range.
Mr. Cormier, you are a predator. You have lived a life of crime from your youth. As you indicated yourself, you have spent almost all of your years incarcerated. I think it’s also probably true that you will no doubt die in prison.
There are certain individuals in our society who are beyond rehabilitation. There are certain individuals in our society that need to be walled away from society because they are incapable of living by the rules of society. There are certain individuals in society that are so dangerous and so amoral that they will not abide by the common rules of decency. You are one of those individuals.
I am going to sentence you to the maximum level under the guidelines. I’m not going to sentence you to life in prison without parole as requested by the government. Not that you don’t deserve it, but in my view, the maximum sentence under the guidelines is adequate, taking into account all of the circumstances and under the law I believe that I could not sentence you to more than an adequate sentence.
At your age and in your physical condition, as you indicated very succinctly, you are through, that may be true for your health but hopefully that is also true for your life in crime.
The defendant will rise for sentence.
Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 this defendant is hereby committed to the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of 411 months [34 years and three months]
My other three children. On the left is Mike’s youngest brother, Shawn, his sister Coralee, and his older brother, Derry,
taken at the Federal Courthouse in Portland the day Lionel Cormier
was sentenced.
The news reported on June 30, 2005 that "one of Maine’s most violent career criminals was sentenced to 34 years in prison—a virtual life sentence for Cormier because of his health problems. It was also reported that his criminal history in Maine extended back more than 30 years. Cormier’s convictions ranged from kidnapping to robbery and included acts such as cutting off the ear of one East Corinth victim and bragging that he had tied another victim to a toilet and burned the house down around him."
Federal prosecutor Malone said, “Cormier also bragged to others that he had killed Micheal Cochran in 1981 in Dedham, a murder for which he and others were acquitted but has never been solved.”
This was erroneous information—the State of Maine never even questioned Cornier about Mike’s murder. Cormier said this to the judge during his sentencing.
The news reported that I was in the courtroom on Tuesday to watch Cormier's sentencing. It quoted me as saying that I was “glad Cormier would spend the rest of his life behind bars” and that “I knew he had killed my son ...” I was also reported as saying, “State Police Detective Gerald Coleman continued to investigate leads in Mike’s death.”
The BDN was evidently informed of their incorrect statement and printed this correction in a later edition:
A story on Page B1 in Wednesday’s editions on the sentencing of Lionel Cormier in U. S. District Court in Portland incorrectly reported that Cormier had been acquitted of murder charges in the 1981 killing of Micheal Cochran in Dedham. Cormier never was charged with or acquitted of that murderOn September 14, 2005, I spent three hours on the phone with Coleman discussing Mike’s murder and the two other men involved in his murder. I was so encouraged, believing that now I would soon see the arrests of Paul Pollard and Percy Sargent.