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A friend of Shawn McBreairty wants to testify that the distress caused by his lawsuit against the Brewer School Department contributed to the reasons why he committed suicide, as part of the lawsuit that has been taken up by McBreairty’s widow.
Former Hermon School Committee member and McBreairty’s friend, Haily Keezer, should be allowed to testify about how the legal actions contributed to distress that led to his suicide, a Wednesday court filing from Patricia McBreairty’s lawyer argues.
McBreairty’s lawyer wants Keezer to be allowed to testify in a currently unscheduled trial. There is no legal reason to exclude her testimony, according to the court filing.
The new filings are an escalation in the ongoing legal battle between McBreairty’s widow and the school department.
Local conservative activist McBreairty died by suicide June 3, 2024. Months before his death, he published an online post about girls’ bathrooms not being safe if males are present. It had a picture of students in a Brewer High School bathroom, including a transgender student.
After it was published, the Brewer School Department requested McBreairty remove three parts of the article, including the picture. McBreairty removed the article, then sued the school department in February 2024 in the U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor, alleging the school violated his First Amendment rights by alluding to taking legal action.
The school has said it will not fight the republishing of the article, in part, because the targeted student had graduated.
Brewer schools argued that McBreairty’s lawyers missed the deadline to include Keezer’s testimony and there is no legitimate basis to allow her testimony at this time, according to an Oct. 16 filing.
Brewer schools superintendent Gregg Palmer declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation.
Keezer’s testimony will discuss how Brewer school’s actions, as well as its law firm Drummond Woodsum, “directly contributed to [McBreairty’s] deep feelings of emotional distress and ultimately to the culmination of that distress in his suicide.”
Keezer has the ability to talk about the effects of the actions and to testify about her perception of McBreairty’s distress, as well as the cause and the severity, the filing said.
A May ruling from a judge ruled that Brewer school policies about anti-bullying and anti-hazing did not apply to McBreairty or his post. It did not justify the conduct by Brewer schools that led to the lawsuit, the judge said.
It’s unknown when the judge will rule on the request to allow Keezer’s testimony.
