Andrew Demers’s story is set in Maine and it even reads a little like a Stephen King novel – we can call this one “The Case of the Legendary Pedophile“.
Andy was a cop. In fact he was a top cop. The now 74 y/o had served as a LEO for some 32 years, 26 of them as a Maine State Trooper and the last 6 as a police chief. That’s Andy, looking all the part in his glory days below:
Before his retirement in 1993 Andy had been twice named “Trooper of the Year”, and he was also named “Legendary Trooper” in 2003. Since then though, things have changed for Andy. Per his shrink, who testified at his sentencing hearing (the subject of which we’ll get to in a moment), argument was made that he had neurological damage from post-traumatic stress as a result of decades of police service. The exact quote being: “Crimes like this come from a dark place within a person that are often buried deep within and unknown.”
Okay then…. Here’s Andy, the pedophile (actually, he’s a “legendary pedophile”) today:
The specifics of the sexual abuse are unknown (what he did, what his relationship to the toddler was, etc) but what is known is that the abuse occurred over a period of time and inside of the Legend’s own home (suggesting an otherwise non-sexual relationship between the Legend and his victim, who, no doubt suffered as, per her mother, “He took my little girl’s innocence from us”).
The case of the Legendary Pedophile is more alarming as even the prosecuting attorney was taken back. Per the prosecuting attorney herself: “This is not something I take lightly at all because Colonel Dermers was my hero too… {But, contrary to his shrink’s preposterous testimony} There is no evidence of diminished mental capacity. That’s why I say we have a child molester here.”
The defense argued against incarceration stating that the 74 y/o had already been “punished seriously since his arrest, with a ruined reputation and the heartache his actions have brought on his family”. His lawyer opined that “Andy is, by every single account, the last person that anyone ever expected would be involved in an offense like this and this alone speaks volumes about who Andy is, as he has lived his life in a way that is the farthest cry from behavior at issue here than one can imagine.” The lawyer further argued that there were extreme safety risks in sending his client to prison.
Fortunately the Judge wasn’t buying what the defense attorney or the dopey shrink were trying to sell (** note that I would not hire, much less permit to testify, a psychologist who would allege that “Andy” has PTSD from decades of police work and that that somehow explains his repeated sexual abuse of a 4 y/o), although some leniency was given to the Legend. Instead of 8 years the Court sentenced him to 4, followed by probation and required him to pony up a measly $5,000.00 to cover the child’s “past and future counseling”. (The Judge probably didn’t consider that Andy’s own shrink probably charged more than that just to testify, much less to provide counseling to an abused child…)
This is a disturbing story on many levels. As a defense lawyer I know all too well that we are stuck with the case and the client over which we choose to accept representation, and this both limits our ability to “lawyer” and demands that we use our imagination so as to be creative in conjuring up defenses for the oftentimes defenseless. In our arena, mitigation, or the act of attempting to convince a Judge to reduce or to lower a prospective sentence, is an art form, and more often than not it is more difficult a process than trying the case itself.
I don’t blame the defense lawyer for making his arguments. Hell, that was probably all that he had. As an aside, a deceased “legend” of a Miami Lawyer, Sy Gaer, Alav Hashalom / RIP, having absolutely nothing else to say once argued to a Judge at sentencing that “My client paid his lawyer,and that’s the first step toward rehabilitation”… and so these things happen, but, that said, the shrink in this case should be ashamed (none that I work with would even consider offering up such nonsense, and if they did not only would I sandbag the concept but I’d fire the alleged “expert” before permitting him to testify) and thus, for permitting this testimony so too should defense counsel be ashamed.
Memo to “the Legend”: You were once an honorable man. You are now a disgrace. Prison is no place for cops. Do the taxpayers and yourself a favor and use the week long furlough that the Judge gave you to go to get your disgusting grubby paws on a bunch of pills, take them and quietly and peacefully go to sleep, in your own bed, forever. Otherwise you might meet this guy, and while its poetic justice, its also all unnecessarily downhill from there:
“Creative defense lawyering demands the skilled use of imagination.” (~ M. A. Haber, Esq.)
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Top notch, very skilled, and highly attentive. Mr. Haber is a fantastic criminal defense attorney. 
- Thanks again. You are second to none when it comes to defending your clients. For that, I thank you
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