David Dupray goes on trial
 
David Dupray was the last of the three men arrested in the Feb. 17–18 drug sting to be sentenced. His trial was on November 13, 1981, less than one month after Percy Sargent’s plea-bargaining hearing. Bangor Attorney Warren M. Silver represented Dupray. Assistant DA Almy again represented the state and Judge Ian MacInnes was again the presided judge.
    Attorney Silver began by asking Judge MacInnes to allow him to correct part of the Probation Officer’s comments. He said, “Under the Defendant’s version of events, the Probation Officer comments that part of the reason that the Defendant did this (supplied the drugs) was that he was afraid of Percy Sargent [In Roger Johnson’s discovery documents David Harriman and Sharon Sargent also told Shuman that they were afraid of Percy Sargent], which we agree with, and that is what he said; but, he also says that he was attacked by a Mr. Cochran ... at a parking lot. That is not what my client says. He said he was attacked by Mr. Sargent, just a factual statement that we wanted to make sure was correct.” 1
     Judge MacInnes said he would accept Attorney Silver’s corrections and asked Mr. Silver what else he could tell him about his client. Mr. Silver said, “... David has some very bad friends, and one of them is a fellow named Percy Sargent who is currently in the Maine State Prison, sentenced there by this Court. Mr. Sargent was in some very serious trouble, and he went to David for help, and David wanted to have nothing to do with it. David was extremely afraid of Mr. Sargent, and Mr. Sargent pressured him, threatened him, robbed him, and pressured him beyond what David could stand into this transaction that he is here for today.
     “... There is a history connected to this, Your Honor, on that the same night that Mr. Dupray was arrested for this, his camp at Lucerne was burned, a gentleman was killed inside that building. I am only bringing this out because I wanted to show the Court the genuine fear that Mr. Dupray had at the time...” 2
     Attorney Silver then told the judge about David’s codefendants Percy Cote and Percy Sargent. He said Percy Cote had “a very long criminal record ... many convictions for trafficking and other crimes.” And that Percy Sargent also had “a very significant record, a very long record,” but that his client, Mr. Dupray “had only one charge on his record” and that was “a simple assault against his alcoholic father.” He “paid a fine and that was eight years old.”
     But Assistant DA Almy’s comments to the judge were not so kind toward Mr. Dupray: “Mr. Dupray apparently is a very nice, intelligent person who has got himself involved in illegal business ... has been doing this since high school ... and he is now 32 years old.” 3
     Almy then told the judge that he had sentenced Percy Sargent and that he had “heard what Percy Sargent said happened. Now, we hear a different version from Mr. Dupray, but there is no question we are talking about major drug dealing here.” 4
     Judge MacInnes told Dupray that he was “involved in a good-sized dealing of drugs. The matter was marijuana. ... I am well aware that from this kind of transaction the fallout is terrible. This is where we get out murder cases.” [Why didn’t Judge MacInnes tell this to Percy Sargent?] Dupray was sentenced to one-and-a-half years at the Maine Correctional Center. The judge said he sentenced him lightly because he was a first time offender. Dupray appealed, but his appeal was also denied. He was incarcerated August 3, 1982 and released September 1, 1983.
 
Notes
 
1.    Dupray’s attorney said that was not what Dupray told the probation officer. Why then would the probation officer name Mike as the one who had attacked David Dupray when he was told it was Percy Sargent?  I believe the probation officer was given the information by a law enforcement officer and I have my thoughts as to who the officer was. Why did Shuman find it necessary to cover for Percy Sargent and denigrate Mike? Am I suspicious? You bet I am—I believe this was just more slander against Mike, making him so worthless that he didn’t deserve justice.
 
2.    Attorney Silver while trying to show the judge how Dupray feared Percy Sargent linked Percy to the arson of Dupray’s cottage and Mike’s murder. I believe Silver along with many other attorney's in the Bangor area and law officials as well knew that Percy Sargent was involved in Mike's murder. I believe they knew exactly what happened the night Mike was murdered and they also knew what was being covered up.  I called Mike's attorney, Andy Mead, for help in finding out why Mike was murdered and he advised me to "stay away from that, Mrs. Cochran."
 
3.   I remember hearing Judge Beaulieu say, when Paul Pollard testified for the state concerning the armed robberies of Charles Dolan, that Pollard’s past criminal acts couldn’t be considered because he had never been charged. Mr. Dupray had never been charged for drug trafficking. The only thing on his record was an assault. But yet DA Almy (DA in Charles Dolan robbery) was telling the judge that Dupray had done things that he was never charged for. I don’t understand the judicial system. Judges and District Attorneys’ can twist facts to fit their desired outcome.
 
4.    How unethical for DA Almy to be relying on “what Percy Sargent said happened, this dangerous criminal that Dupray feared.