Two of four people accused of an assault in Orono pleaded not guilty Thursday morning.
Summer Blaisdell and Marcus Paes were arraigned in Penobscot County court Thursday morning. Both pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault.
Blaisdell, Paes, Charles Carroll and Braeden Cunningham are accused of assaulting a man outside his Orono home on Crosby Street shortly after midnight on April 27.
The alleged assault led an Orono group to propose ordinance changes that would crack down on loud parties. Residents say those parties have led to assaults and other issues around town.
The Orono Town Council formed the Good Neighbor Committee in the wake of the alleged assault. Those proposed changes include adding a slew of actions — including excessive noise and obstructing town roads — to the town’s disorderly activity list, and would slap tenants, and in some instances landlords, with fines that range from $300 to $600 depending on the severity of the violation. The fines would double with each subsequent offense.
The assault allegedly happened after a man stepped outside to tell the four people to stop trespassing, the man’s husband said at a town council meeting. The BDN is not naming the men because it does not identify victims of crimes.
The group allegedly pulled the man to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him in his upper body, his husband said. They were also attempting to strangle him, blocking his airway for several seconds at a time.
“While they were doing this they were yelling homophobic slurs at him,” the man’s husband said.
Cunningham and Carroll are scheduled to appear in court in the coming months.
