Sect leader balks at order for handwriting sample

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The leader of an Attleboro religious sect charged with the death of his infant son has refused to provide a court-ordered handwriting sample.

Jacques Robidoux, 28, is charged with first-degree murder for the death of his infant son, Samuel, whose remains were found nearly a year ago in Maine’s Baxter State Park.

Authorities say Robidoux, his wife Karen, 25, and Robidoux’s sister, Michelle Mingo, withheld solid food from the boy in order to fulfill a religious “prophecy” Mingo claims to have had.

Prosecutors wanted handwriting samples from all three to determine the author of journals that chronicle the death of Samuel days before his first birthday in April 1999.

Karen Robidoux and Mingo have complied with the order.

Jacques Robidoux has refused, claiming that he would write out only a Bible passage.

The two-page writing sample ordered was designed by an expert hired by Bristol District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr.

Robidoux’s wife was charged with second-degree murder. Mingo was charged with being an accessory to commit assault and battery on a child.

The three are due back in court on March 4.