ROCKLAND, Maine — A state judge has denied a request to allow a man charged with the 2024 death of 22-month-old Quayshawn Wilson to return to Louisiana pending the start of the retrial.
Justice John O’Neil, however, reduced the bail amount for 24-year-old Aziayh Scott from $50,000 to $35,000. The justice said that freed up money would help Scott pay the $150 monthly fee for an ankle monitor as he awaits his retrial on a charge of manslaughter. The court ruling was made Tuesday morning via Zoom.
A retrial is expected to be held in June. O’Neil is expected to be an active retired judge as of April 1 and said he would oversee the retrial as well if he is sworn into office by that time.
A mistrial was declared Nov. 12, 2025, after a Knox County jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Scott’s defense attorney Christopher MacLean had filed a motion to amend bail. MacLean argued at a Dec. 17, 2025, hearing that Scott is facing a financial burden, being required to live in Knox County pending a second trial. MacLean said Scott is paying $1,800 a month for rent and $150 per month for the ankle monitor.
Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman argued against allowing Scott to return to Louisiana, saying it would be difficult to enforce bail conditions such as no contact with minors, and that if he failed to return to Maine for the trial, enforcing the return would be difficult.
The defense had also asked that the “no contact” provision be lifted on Scott from contacting the deceased child’s mother, Shaneka Washington. The attorney had noted last month that the state did not call the child’s mother as a witness. Washington attended the November trial and also viewed the Zoom hearing Tuesday. Scott was also viewing the hearing via Zoom. O’Neil did not change other terms of the bail.
MacLean has said Scott has adhered to his bail conditions since being released in July 2025. The prosecutor has said, however, that Scott has not been fully cooperative. She said state police went to perform a bail check, and he and his mother would not let police search the apartment as police tried to determine whether the child’s mother was at the apartment.
“The state is extremely confident that Aziayh Scott is responsible for the injury that lacerated the liver of Quayshawn and caused his death,” Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said after the mistrial was declared.
The maximum sentence for manslaughter in Maine is 30 years in prison.
Ackerman said in closing arguments at the trial that Quayshawn was not able to tell jurors what happened to him, but that his body could. She noted the autopsy performed by the state’s deputy medical examiner determined that blunt force trauma to his abdomen caused a lacerated liver and damaged kidney, which led to internal bleeding.
Dr. Nicholas Miles, a pediatrician specializing in child abuse cases, told jurors the injuries had to have come from a violent blow.
The prosecutor outlined the events from when Scott, Quayshawn and Washington arrived in Owls Head early in the morning of May 28, 2024. Quayshawn’s mother had a job at Breakwater Commons in Rockland.
Videos from the mother’s cellphone showed Quayshawn throughout May 28 and he was healthy and happy, Ackerman noted.
On May 29, the mother went to work early and came home at about 10:30 a.m. for lunch and the child ate lunch and was happy. She then went back to work.
There were then multiple texts and audio calls between Scott and the child’s mother that afternoon but no video calls.
An upstairs neighbor where the family was staying in Owls Head testified she saw Scott carrying Quayshawn that afternoon and the child’s head was tipped back and Scott waved to the neighbor. Scott put the child in the car and left.
Scott picked up the boy’s mother and took her to Walmart in Thomaston. She was in the store for 20 minutes. When she came out, Scott asked the mother to check on the child. Scott got out of the car and vomited. The mother put the groceries away and then checked on Quayshawn and found him unresponsive. The mother took the child out of the car seat and called for help in the parking lot.
Two former certified nursing assistants with training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation responded and one of them performed CPR for three minutes. During her closing arguments, Ackerman showed the jury the surveillance video of the arrival of Scott, Quayshawn and Washington in Walmart’s parking lot.
Ackerman said the state cannot say why Scott assaulted Quayshawn but pointed out there was evidence that the child’s mother had told him the relationship was not working and he should return to Louisiana. Scott was then left with a child that was not his, and Scott had gotten only a few hours of sleep after the long trip to Maine.
Dr. Liam Funte, the state’s deputy medical examiner, performed the autopsy on the child. In addition to the lacerated liver and bruised kidney, he said the child had nine broken ribs.
Defense attorney MacLean said during his closing argument at trial that the state’s case was circumstantial and there was no direct evidence that Scott assaulted Quayshawn. He said there were no confessions and no one witnessed Scott abusing the child. MacLean said Scott loved the child and had been with the child since shortly after Quayshawn was born prematurely.
MacLean also said the fact that the mother was not cooperating with police against Scott should speak volumes. The defense lawyer also pointed out there was no evidence of prior injuries to the child.
The child’s mother submitted a letter to the court on Nov. 13, 2024, in which she said the state was falsely accusing an innocent man.
The defense’s only witness was a forensic pathologist from Utah who reviewed the deputy medical examiner’s autopsy records and police reports. Dr. Erik Christensen, who was Utah’s chief medical examiner and is now a forensic pathology consultant, said during his Nov. 7 testimony he could not rule out that the child died from myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle. Christensen said that with the information he obtained, he would have ruled the cause of death as undetermined.
The Utah doctor said he also could not say whether the CPR performed by a woman in the Walmart parking lot caused the injuries to the boy’s liver and kidney. More tissue samples should have been examined by the Maine medical examiner, he said.
MacLean said the medical examiner did not follow proper standards in conducting the autopsy.
Miles said he was confident the injuries were not caused by CPR. He said injuries from CPR are rare and minor.
Scott did not testify.
Scott was arrested June 5, 2024, in Louisiana on a warrant from Knox County. He was extradited to Maine on July 18 last year and charged with manslaughter. Bail was lowered twice, and he eventually was released on bail, pending the trial.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
