A Hancock County judge denied Eliot Cutler’s request for bail on Wednesday, pending a May hearing that could send the former gubernatorial candidate back to jail for more than 3 years.
Cutler, who was convicted in 2023 for possessing child sex abuse materials, has allegedly violated his probation conditions four times in the past few months.
The 79-year-old Brooklin man appeared on Zoom for the bail hearing. Walter McKee, Cutler’s defense attorney, asked the court to set a “reasonable bail” for Cutler, who has been held without bail since his latest arrest in early February.
The judge denied McKee’s request to set bail at under $10,000 and allow Cutler be remanded to home detention. McKee asked that if Cutler was granted bail that he be allowed to leave his home for medical and legal appointments and to “walk around” the perimeter of his house.
District Attorney Robert Granger opposed the request and said the state on Tuesday found pornography on Cutler’s private electronics, which were confiscated during his latest arrest.
Cutler has “done nothing but attempt to circumvent” his release conditions, and he “has not been entirely cooperative with law enforcement,” Granger said.
McKee said he would present evidence on the impact of pornography addiction during a future hearing, from which he says Cutler suffers. The court will hear motions to fully revoke Cutler’s probation in May, but that hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Cutler was arrested in South Portland on Feb. 9 after he was allegedly caught with pornographic DVDs, violating his probation conditions.
In May, the court will address the state’s motions to fully revoke Cutler’s 39 month probation, which could send him to jail for longer than he originally served. Cutler was released in January 2024 after serving 33 weeks because of the state’s “good time” law, which allows incarcerated people to shave off days of their sentence with good behavior.
McKee argued his client should be released on bail because his most recent arrest was “not a new criminal event.” Wednesday’s hearing addressed McKee’s March 27 motion asking the court to amend Cutler’s bail, according to court documents.
Granger had already filed a request in earlier March to fully revoke Cutler’s probation following his fourth alleged violation.
McKee declined to comment Wednesday after the hearing.
Following his Feb. 9 arrest, Cutler was “unsatisfactorily discharged” from his court-ordered sexual behavior treatment, qualifying as his fourth alleged release violation.
Prior to his February arrest — when Maine State Police allegedly found Cutler in a hotel parking lot with a brown paper bag of pornographic DVDs and a DVD player — he had already been accused of violating his probation twice.
In September 2025, Cutler allegedly committed his first violation by visiting a website for a massage parlor and filling out a questionnaire for a sexual escort, according to court documents.
In January, Cutler turned himself into Hancock County jail after he was accused of viewing pornographic materials on the internet on Dec. 28 and Jan. 2.
After his second violation, Justice Harold Stewart denied Granger’s request to revoke Cutler’s probation but warned Cutler he was “at the end of the runway” for being granted bail if he again violated his release conditions.
During that Jan. 14 hearing, Stewart raised Cutler’s bail to $10,000 and barred him from accessing the internet or any electronic devices, his strictest bail conditions yet.
Just under a month later, Cutler had violated those conditions.
In May 2023, Cutler pled guilty to four felony charges after being accused of saving 142,000 images depicting child sex abuse on his electronic devices.
