1987
 
Conversation with Paul Pollard
 
I told Paul that I had tapes on Lionel and he said  “Now that’s the person who should be taking the lie detector test right there.”
     “All right, that’s what I’m saying. I believe that too. We’ve got tapes on him talking. He’s putting the blame on you. ... Why don’t you tell them it was him that night? Like you said, why don’t they give him a lie detector test? Why don’t they question him about that?”
     “I asked them that very question, and they wouldn’t give me an answer. ...”  
     “Yeah, because I don’t think that any man should walk away with a murder charge on him.”
     “No.”
     “And that was my son that he killed and I think he should answer for it.”
     “I agree. ...”
     “... But the thing is then, why don’t they give Lionel a polygraph test?”
     “Well, that’s a good question and when I asked them they wouldn’t answer me.”
     “... I don’t know why they don’t, you know, look at Lionel.”
     “I know. That is odd and, of course, when I asked about it, they say that’s not the issue here. ...”
     “I’d give anything if somebody could give them a push in the direction to look at Lionel, you know.”
     “When they were here I was asking, you know. I know Lionel is dangerous.”
     “...That was my son that was ... his head was blown off before they set the camp on fire down there. I want to know why he did that to him ’cause he wasn’t guilty of being a rat and I think you know that. Don’t you?”
     “Well, I think it’s true that they need to take a good look at Lionel here.

Conversation with Owen Pollard

In October of 1987, I contacted Owen Pollard, four months after talking with Paul Pollard. I found Owen Pollard, in Norman, Oklahoma. I called his residence one evening in October and recorded our conversation. Owen had left the state of Maine immediately after Richard Sargent, Roger Johnson, and William Meyers were arrested for Mike’s murder. I find this curious!
     Here is a part of that conversation: I said, “... Mr. Pollard, I would like to ask you a question. ... shortly after the fire back in February 18, 1981—”
     “What fire?”
     “That’s when Micheal Cochran died in a fire in that camp 1 down in Dedham.”
     “Oh, okay.”
     “... I’ve talked to Paul on the telephone in Virginia, and he tells me that he called you [when] he went out to Rhode Island. ... And after he got out there on the 20th 2 and he called you and told you that a cabin had burned and a man had died in it and he was scared. He came home and went into Waterville to speak to an attorney and Detective Shuman met him there.” 3 
     “He tells me that he told the police everything that happened. The thing that I wanted to ask you Mr. Pollard, could you tell me when he came back and told about Lionel Cormier and what happened; would you have any idea why the police would not listen to what he had to say?”
     “You know when that all happened, that I was in California and I remember it happening but I don’t remember those details you describe. ... I remember that he called—when he called and told me what had happened, that I was in California. And then I, and I don’t, what I probably told him was that when I came home we would talk about it. But I, you know, I really, and I’m not trying to be evasive. I really don’t remember many of the details after that. You know yourself the character Lionel was.” 4  
     “Yes, I know. The last time I spoke with Paul has been probably three months  ago and he says that they need to give Lionel a polygraph test and I told Paul you know that Lionel got 23 years in prison for robbery but that’s not enough.’”
     “Well, they didn’t punish him. If he did that to your son—that certainly isn’t enough.”
     “Well, that’s true, but the thing is, for some unknown reason, the police keep blocking no matter what I get for information and I’m confused about that.”
     “I know. It’s an awful thing for you to have to go through.”
     “Well, it’s going on seven years and it’s my life’s purpose right now… I want the man who shot him down there that night.”
     “Yeah, well I certainly understand that.” 5
     “Paul has told me ... that they need to look at Lionel.”
     “Well they know where to find him.”
     “Well, they certainly do and ... [Paul] said, “I told them everything. It was up to them to do what they wanted.”
     “I’m sure he told them everything and I remember he did have a polygraph test. Paul did. ... And I don’t know why in the world they never would give Lionel one if (inaudible).”
     “Well, they keep saying he refuses to take one, but you know if someone will come forward and talk against someone, why just say we can’t do anything because he won’t take a polygraph?”
     “I know it doesn’t make much sense. I’m sure, as far as I know, Paul told them absolutely everything. That’s what I told him, you know, that’s what I certainly advised him that he had to do.... What they do, they get into, I’m no lawyer but I, in those things like with Lionel they do all this plea bargaining and stuff and so, you know, it could have well been that he was bargained with on the 23 years and they’re going to dismiss something else. I know those things happen.”
     “But I would think that a murder would come before an indictment on robberies.”
     “Well, I would agree with you. I’m sure you just absolutely don’t feel justice has ever been done. ... I do know this; I know that Lionel has absolutely no conscience. And I know Paul does and I know Paul. I know every parent thinks it, but I really know Paul is incapable of taking anybody’s life. He wouldn’t shoot a bird.”  6
     “No, you know the only thing, the reason that Paul’s name gets in this so much, he was seen running from the cabin that night.”
     “Yeah, yeah, and I’m sure he was frightened because he nearly burned himself. And when you think of that you can absolutely see that he was having no loyalty to Lionel because whoever did it was gonna let him burn up to death.”  7
     "It’s just that it’s an awful, awful thing and I’ve thought about you, you know, and what you must be going through.”
     “Yes, well it’s been an awful thing. I never knew the truth. ... Paul, like we said, was seen running from the cabin that night and like you said he could have lost his life that night too. Well, that was the hard thing for me to understand though, how Lionel could go to that cabin and set a fire and he had to have known Paul was there.”
   "Yeah, he would have done it. He would have done it. He would have killed Paul. He is, you know, at times he’s threatened Paul. Paul has been in fear of his own life from Lionel until he was put away. I can tell you that as a parent.”
     “... I just wanted to talk to you ’cause I have, when Pollard came back from Rhode Island, I kind of, I had surmised that that was before Michael was even found.”
     “... I think when he called though, when he went to Rhode Island now, I really think that he had, by the time at least Paul had talked with me, it seems to me that it was known that somebody had burned in the house.”
     “Well, I think it was known. Lionel had told it down to Sargent’s on the 18th. ... He called you and he said there was a fire and a man died and he was scared and you said, come home and we’ll take care of it."
     “I remember that. I was visiting, I remember I was visiting my sister in California and my brother is a Superior Court Judge and I remember of relating the things to him and he was saying the thing that Paul should do. ...Which obviously I wanted him to do, you know. ... there is no explaining all these things because there is so much none of us know goes on in the legal system. And there’s all this, you know, lawyers that get together and they make deals. ... And I just absolutely couldn’t believe it when Paul told me he only got 23 years.”
     “Right. They wouldn’t even allow the murder to be talked about in court. They wouldn’t allow them to speak of it.”
     “Yeah, you see that’s what makes me think it was some plea-bargaining stuff, you know, that if they could put him in jail for 23 years for one thing, they weren’t gonna press something else and that certainly isn’t justice.” 8
     “I would think murder would take precedence over armed robbery. They keep telling me that a murder is their priority, but I don’t see it that way in this case.”
     “It doesn’t seem so. In relation to Lionel it doesn’t ... you certainly have had my feelings and sympathy and I wish there was something I could do to help you.
     “Well, Okay, I thank you for your time.”
     “It was nice to talk with you and I understand what you’re doing.”

This was the only conversation I had with Owen Pollard but when we took his deposition, during my lawsuit against Paul Pollard in 1989, he lied when he said that I harassed him with many calls and that I didn’t sound sensible.
 
Notes
 
1.   Regardless of how beautiful and expensive they are, cottages, cabins, and lake houses on a lake in Maine are called camps.

2.   I subsequently learned it was after Mike was found on the 24th of February and Pollard was arrested at the Bangor PD.

3.   I was wrong Paul hadn’t told me this. I had read it in Pollard’s, February 12, 1985, Massachusetts statement. I was nervous because I feared Owen Pollard would hang up on me and tried to say everything at once.]

4.  Wait until he came home to talk about a man being murdered and left lying under a burned pile of fire rubble for six days?

5.  No surprise that I said he was shot.

6.  Now why did he say that? Why would Pollard, who wouldn't shoot a bird, carry a .357 Smith & Wesson pistol? It was Pollard’s gun that shot five bullets into the Young residence. The vehicle was followed and it was registered to Paul Pollard.

7.   Why did he accept a ride with Cormier, who was waiting for him when he came out of the woods, if Lionel was gonna let him burn up to death? If he had no loyalty to Cormier why did he go to the Sargent home with Cormier approximately 5-6 hours after Mike’s murder? If he was so innocent why did he go to the murder scene with Lionel Cormier and Percy Sargent and watch, according to his Feb. 12, 1985 statement, while Cormier and Percy Sargent kicked around in the fire rubble trying to uncover Mike’s body. Why did he go to East Corinth with Cormier and hide in the woods with Percy Sargent before fleeing the state with Cormier and Percy Sargent? “

8.   Mrs. Walter Young told me that she believed that the drive-by shooting at her home was bargained away and Mary Thomason told me that the burglary of her home (stolen guns and jewelry) was resolved in a plea bargain. Now Owen is saying that Mike’s murder was plea-bargained in the armed robbery case. The news reported that Richard Sargent’s defense attorney, J. Hilary Billings “attempted to elicit testimony from Pollard which would indicate that the 26-year-old Readfield man had made a deal with the prosecutors in exchange for not being charged in the February 18, 1981 murder of [Micheal] Cochran.”