Eliot Cutler’s defense attorney is asking a Hancock County judge to release his client — who was arrested in February after he was allegedly caught with pornographic materials — on a “reasonable bail.”
Cutler, the former gubernatorial candidate who was convicted in 2023 for possessing child sex abuse materials, is scheduled to appear in court April 8 for a bail hearing.
Cutler, 79, has been incarcerated since his Feb. 9 arrest at a South Portland hotel. At the time, it was Cutler’s third alleged probation violation in under three months. Since that arrest he was “unsatisfactorily discharged” from his court-ordered sexual behavior treatment, amounting to his fourth alleged probation violation.
His attorney, Walter McKee, has filed a motion to amend Cutler’s bail, challenging District Attorney Robert Granger’s Feb. 20 request to fully revoke the defendant’s bail. Cutler has been held without bail since his latest arrest.
McKee filed a March 27 motion that says Cutler’s most recent arrest for possessing pornography was “not a new criminal event” and amounted to only “ancillary” Class E probation violations, according to court documents filed in Hancock County Unified Criminal Court.
“Given the non-criminal nature of Defendant’s conduct which gave rise to his arrest and incarceration, Defendant should be allowed to be released on reasonable bail,” the motion says.
McKee is arguing his client did not receive a hearing for his pending probation violation charges, as is statutorily required, according to the motion.
“The State is absolutely opposed,” Granger said in a written statement to the Bangor Daily News. “Mr. Cutler’s alleged conduct leading to the last Motion to Revoke Probation arose after Justice Stewart told Mr. Cutler that he ‘was at the end of the runway.’”
McKee did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday from the Bangor Daily News.
Last month, Granger requested that Cutler’s 39 month probation be fully revoked, which could mean he would be incarcerated for longer than he originally served. In January 2024, Cutler was released after less than 8 months of incarceration because of the state’s ‘good time’ law.
The state has tried accessing Cutler’s electronic devices but has faced “challenges” that are “not the fault of the defendant,” according to McKee’s motion.
“The State Police Special Victim’s Unit has been moving as efficiently as possible to examine the equipment seized from Mr. Cutler’s home,” Granger told the BDN. “There have been a number of delays for various reasons which will be addressed in court.”
During a Feb. 25 hearing, Cutler denied violating his probation again.
On Feb. 9, the Brooklin man was allegedly caught by Maine State Police officers, who were at the DoubleTree by Hilton for a separate investigation, in possession of pornographic DVDs in the hotel’s parking lot, according to court documents.
Cutler, whose probation conditions barred him from accessing sexually explicit materials, allegedly told the officers that he “can’t help himself” and that he has “had this problem for 65 years,” according to court documents.
In May 2023, Cutler pled guilty to four counts of possessing child sex abuse material. He was accused of having 142,000 images and videos of child sex abuse on his personal devices. Close to 84,000 of those files involved children under the age of 12, according to court documents.
