Federal Lawsuit Against Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Officers Potentially Set For April
Case Involves Bar Harbor Man’s First Amendment Rights
BAR HARBOR AND MOUNT DESERT—A magistrate judge has set a tentative trial date for the lawsuit by a Bar Harbor man who claims that island police officers violated his First Amendment rights.
The suit also states that officers broke the man’s Maine Civil Rights Act as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.
Eli Durand-McDonnell’s suit against Lt. Kevin Edgecomb of the Mount Desert Police Department and Officer Nathan Formby of the Bar Harbor Police Department stems from a late July 2022 incident at the Northeast Harbor home of conservative activist Leonard Leo. The lawsuit was filed in federal court earlier this summer. Durand-McDonnell lives in Bar Harbor. The officers are part of a shared police force for both towns.
The officers had charged Durand-McDonnell with disorderly conduct after a July 31 interaction with Leo.
Leo had said that Durand-McDonnell cursed him and his family on a Northeast Harbor Street. Durand-McDonnell was arrested shortly afterward while protesting outside Leo’s home.
Durand-McDonnell received a charge of disorderly conduct. Hancock County District Attorney Robert Granger dismissed the charge in May.
Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor offense.
The lawsuit alleges that the arrest was illegal because the officers did not witness the misdemeanor charge, yet arrested him, and that the arrest was a violation of Durand-McDonnell’s freedom of speech. He was protesting Leo’s advocacy and promotion through the Federalist Society.
The introduction of the lawsuit reads,
The preliminary scheduling order and discovery plan was filed this week.
The deadlines are as follows:
1. Conferences of parties – September 19
2. Initial Disclosure – October 3
3. Amendment of pleading and joinder – November 21
4. Designated experts disclosed by plaintiffs – November 21
5. Designated experts disclosed by defendants – December 26
6. Deadline to complete discovery – January 23, 2024
7. Deadline to file notice of intent to file motion for summary judgement and need for a pre-filing conference – January 30, 2024
8. Deadline for filing of all dispositive motions – February 13, 2024
9. Expected trial date – April 2, 2024
Also, the plaintiff(s) must make a settlement demand in writing by January 9, 2024. The defendants then must respond in writing by January 23, 2024. The judge is Karen Frink Wolf, a U.S. Magistrate judge.
Attorneys Kasia Park and Susan Weidner filed a response to Durand-McDonnell’s charges yesterday, September 5. That response is linked below. It states that the officers are “entitled to qualified immunity,” and that “no clearly established rights” of Durand-McDonnell “were violated.” And “if any of the defendants’ acts are found to have been unlawful and/or unconstitutional defendants had no knowledge or notice of such illegality or unconstitutionality.”
Former Bar Harbor interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert had earlier said that Bar Harbor’s officer is covered under Town of Bar Harbor Liability Insurance. Accordingan article earlier this summer in the Mount Desert Islander, “In addition to the lawsuit against the two police officers, Durand-McDonnell is seeking $150,000 in damages from the towns of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert. Mount Desert Town Manager Durlin Lunt said the town’s insurance carrier, Maine Municipal Association, will handle the town’s defense.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/police-officers-sued-by-bar-harbor
This is a story of power, wealth, and influence trying to trump our constitutional rights including political free speech. The audio of the police:Leonard Leo conversation is damning and despicable. Leo lives on a One Way Street of constitutional rights. His speech is protected but not yours if he doesn't like what you say. He has a right to bodily autonomy but forces his amoral views on women and children. The majority rules except when a devilish minority can purchase its way to power through deceit and corruption. Very sad two of our police officer fell for it. Check out www.leonardleo.org
leo should be cursed at, at every moment he is here on our island. He should never feel comfortable, ever. He's a terrible human.