Levant shooting case to go before grand jury

A grand jury will decide whether to press charges in the case of a Newport man who last week fatally shot his friend in the woods off Route 222 in Levant, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.

The case involving Adam B. Nason, 20, will be presented to the Penobscot County grand jury in December or January, depending on how the investigation proceeds, Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said Wednesday.

Stokes previously has stated that any of a range of charges could be applied in the case.

Nason was hunting illegally when he shot and killed James Griffin Jr., 21, of Levant at approximately 5 p.m. Nov. 8, according to warden officials.

Legal hunting ended at 4:44 p.m. that day.

Griffin Jr. and two cousins, Alfred Griffin, 24, and Scott Griffin, 22, all originally from Levant, went together to hunt on family property off Route 222.

Nason went later that day and fired the fatal shot as he sat on a tree stump and watched for deer, according to warden officials.

News that the shot was fired after dark hasn’t changed the Griffin family’s opinion of Nason, a longtime friend, James Griffin Sr. said Wednesday.

Criminal charges would only add to the grief Nason is suffering from the loss of his friend, the father said.

“We believe this to be an accident,” Griffin said. “There might have been poor judgment there. That doesn’t really change our feelings one way or the other.”

The grand jury will determine which charges, if any, will be filed, Stokes said. He would not release any specifics about the investigation.

Griffin’s death marks the first fatal hunting-related shooting in Maine since 2001. The last incident was in December 2001, when a 42-year-old Canton man was shot and killed.