Mistrial declared in arson case After five hours, jury unable to reach verdict on Winterport man

ELLSWORTH – The arson trial of a Winterport man ended Wednesday in a mistrial after the jury deliberated five hours but remained deadlocked.

Justice Andrew Mead, sitting in Hancock County Superior Court, declared a mistrial at 5:30 p.m. after jurors said they were split on whether Merle Crossman, 47, was guilty of setting fire to his Orland house for the insurance money. Each juror on the panel of seven men and five women answered yes when Mead asked them if the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich, the prosecutor in the case, said after the mistrial was declared that he intends to try Crossman on the arson charge again.

“I see no reason not to retry him,” Povich said.

Crossman’s attorney, Julio DeSanctis of Orrington, said the state did not prove that his client had set the Dec. 18, 1999, fire that severely damaged his unfurnished Route 175 house.

“The direct evidence is pretty thin,” DeSanctis said. “No one saw him do anything directly related to the fire.” DeSanctis said there was evidence the fire was set deliberately, but none that Crossman was involved.

After starting deliberations at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, two days after the trial started, the jurors sent out a note asking Mead about the law concerning making inferences of proven facts and then a note indicating they were deadlocked. Mead had them continue deliberations, but after another hour, at 5:15 p.m., they sent out another note saying they were still deadlocked.

During the trial on Monday, Chief Chris Farley of the Orland Volunteer Fire Department testified that he found a blue, hand-held propane torch placed on top of an unplugged box fan on the cellar stairs at 1:20 a.m. Dec. 19, 1999, two hours after firefighters arrived at the scene. The torch was pointed at some National Geographic magazines that had been wedged between the studs of the exposed stairwell wall, Farley said.

According to investigators, the manner in which the propane torch was burning the magazines was intended to start a fire slowly, giving Crossman time to get away from the house to establish an alibi.

Stu Jacobs, fire investigation supervisor for the state Fire Marshal’s Office, said Monday the arrangement of the torch and the fan was intended to collapse either from the spray of water from firefighter’s hoses or from the weakening of the stairwell from the fire.

Crossman will remain held on bail of $100,000 surety or $50,000 cash while he awaits retrial, Povich said.

Povich told the jury during the trial that Crossman had bought the home for $25,000 one month before it caught fire and stood to gain three times that much in insurance claims. The house was unoccupied and locked when two men driving past the house at 11 p.m. saw flames burning around the front door, Povich said. Crossman was the only one who had the motive, opportunity and means for setting the fire, he said.

After the mistrial was declared, Povich said Crossman had books about disappearing and creating new identities when he was found last May in a Wilkes-Barre, Pa., apartment rented under the name of his brother. Crossman originally was scheduled to go on trial for the arson charge last January but was sought on a fugitive warrant after he was discovered to have left the state.

Povich said that when Crossman is tried again, the state would emphasize to a greater degree this fact and its belief that Crossman was trying to pass himself off in Pennsylvania as his brother.