The chairman of the Oxford County commissioners is refuting one of the key findings by Maine’s governor that the county’s sheriff did not violate the law when he traded guns from the evidence room without getting permission from the original gun owners or commissioners.
Gov. Janet Mills announced May 13 that she would not remove Sheriff Christopher Wainwright from office based on the advisory opinion of retired Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Donald Alexander. He oversaw the sheriff’s removal hearing in April and produced a report that defended his recommendation to not remove the sheriff in part by stating that the sheriff had not acted unlawfully.
In response Oxford County Commissioner David Duguay said he was perplexed by Alexander’s determination. An outside lawyer not connected to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office also said he did not understand it because Alexander failed to explain how he reached his conclusion.
The governor repeated Alexander’s arguments in her decision and said Wainwright’s actions were not severe enough to warrant using her constitutional authority to remove him from office — something she said should only be exercised under “extraordinary circumstances.” The governor is the only person who can remove a sheriff from office.
Wainwright had sent uncertified men into schools as school resource officers; sold guns from the evidence room without approval from county commissioners, notifying gun owners or holding an auction; and threatened a deputy who reported the sheriff for pressuring him to seek leniency in a case.
Duguay said he was puzzled by Alexander’s assertion that Wainwright had not violated the law when he traded guns from evidence to J.T. Reid’s Gun Shop in Auburn in 2021 in exchange for credit.
That’s because it is the opposite of the conclusion reached by an independent investigator hired by the county, lawyer Maria Fox, who determined Wainwright violated both sheriff’s office policy and Maine law. Her assertions formed the basis for Oxford County commissioners to unanimously ask Mills in February to remove Wainwright.
Specifically, Fox concluded that Wainwright had violated Title 25, Chapter 401, which requires law enforcement agencies to try to identify and notify original owners before selling their property — something the sheriff did not do.
In addition, the investigator found that Wainwright violated Title 30-A, Chapter 1 by making the trade without the knowledge of or authorization from the county administrator or commissioners. The statute requires the county administrator, not the sheriff, to act as the purchasing agent, and commissioners can require that purchases greater than a designated amount be submitted via sealed bids.
Though Wainwright was not charged, Fox also said he may have committed the crime of theft for trading firearms that were not his. However, while some people may have grounds to press for criminal charges, no one has come forward, she wrote.
Meanwhile, Alexander wrote in his advisory report that Wainwright was not alone in his practices and that the sheriff did not benefit personally from the trade, which supported the purchase of weapons for officers. There were no allegations that the county did not receive fair value for the firearms, he said.
“[O]ther law enforcement agencies have similar paperwork problems and other difficulties in their firearms disposition practices. Further, the practices for disposition of firearms in the possession of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office varied greatly over the years,” Alexander wrote in his report.
“In those circumstances, the record does not support, to the preponderance of the evidence standard, any finding” that Wainwright violated the law, policy or law enforcement ethics rules, Alexander continued.
“That’s not true,” Duguay said in response. “For one thing [Wainwright] did not get the permission from the commissioners, and that’s a violation of the law right there.”
“I respect what Justice Alexander wrote. He’s got years of experience. I’m just puzzled, I guess. I’ll put it that way. I’m puzzled. In my opinion [Wainwright] did break the law,” Duguay continued.
David Webbert, a leading civil rights and employment lawyer in Maine who had no connection to the Oxford County removal matter, reviewed Alexander’s 21-page advisory opinion and the 25-page report by the county’s investigator and concluded that Alexander did not back up his finding.
His decision “fails to provide a reasonable explanation for its conclusion” that Wainwright had not violated any provision of state law when he traded in firearms without attempting to first identify or contact owners, Webbert wrote in an email.
In his report, Alexander repeated the same details as the county’s independent investigator, such as that Wainwright made no attempt to contact firearms owners or to check the status of any criminal cases associated with the firearms, and he noted the same Maine laws requiring law enforcement agencies to try to return owners’ property. But then he reached a different conclusion without explanation, Webbert said.
The independent investigator’s analysis, meanwhile, was thorough, Webbert said. For instance it considered possible exceptions to Maine law but then concluded there were no valid exceptions.
In comparison, Alexander’s opinion noted that the sheriff faced problems, such as with record keeping and a history at the sheriff’s office of not holding auctions, that made complying with the law more difficult. But “those are not legally recognized exceptions” to the law, and “do not provide a reasonable basis for finding no violation,” Webbert said
Wainwright’s attorney, Jonathan Berry, declined an interview but said in an email that both sides were required to submit materials to Alexander that weren’t always discussed or presented at the public hearing, leading Alexander to a fully informed advisory opinion.
“[I]t was the entirety of the process that afforded Sheriff Wainwright a full and fair opportunity to present the facts — all the facts — to an impartial and revered jurist, of unquestioned integrity and reputation. After receiving and reviewing all the facts, Justice Alexander applied his well-informed understanding of law to the operative facts,” Berry wrote.
While Duguay said he was disappointed, Oxford County commissioners will continue to work with Wainwright after Mills rejected their petition to remove him from office. He hasn’t ruled out sending another complaint to the governor if commissioners learn of more misconduct by the sheriff, however, he said.
While some deputies were pleased by the decision, others who spoke to the independent investigator and testified against the sheriff are now in the uncomfortable position of having to continue reporting to him, Duguay said.
“We want to move forward and work with him, but we need to hold him accountable, too, and if there’s any retaliation on those brave deputies who stepped forward, we can’t tolerate that,” Duguay said. “They did it because they were doing the right thing, and that needs to be respected.”
Erin Rhoda is the editor of Maine Focus and may be reached at [email protected].
