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BELFAST – A judge reduced the bail for a man police say is responsible for killing his future brother-in-law by driving into him with a truck.
Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty agreed with the attorney representing Nikki Thibodeau, 32, of Corinth during a hearing Thursday in Waldo County Superior Court to reduce the cash bail from $10,000 to $2,500.
Thibodeau is charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 2 death of Ben Preston, 26, of Winterport. Police say Thibodeau ran down Preston in the driveway of Preston’s family’s home.
Thibodeau had posted the $10,000 cash bail and has been free, but his attorney, N. Laurence Willey of Bangor, argued that the amount was inappropriately high, given the circumstances.
The judge also amended bail conditions to allow Thibodeau to have contact with Samantha Preston, 26, his fiancee, and her son during counseling sessions. The three are barred from discussing the case during those sessions, the judge ruled.
Other conditions of bail remain, such as banning Thibodeau from using or possessing alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs and weapons, and submitting to searches and testing for substance use.
In a written filing with the court in support of reducing the bail, Willey argued that Thibodeau “believes that the State Police and particularly … [Trooper] Jason Richards intentionally overlooked testimony of eyewitnesses and forensic evidence involving the vehicle in an attempt to make a case against [Thibodeau] that does not exist.”
Thibodeau further “believes a grand jury will not indict him” if he can present his witnesses and evidence, the attorney wrote.
The accused maintains that Ben Preston was trying to kill Thibodeau and Samantha Preston’s young son, who was in the truck with Thibodeau, by throwing a metal drive shaft “javelin style through the windshield” of Thibodeau’s pickup truck as Thibodeau tried to “turn around and leave” the property.
A status conference on the case is scheduled for Dec. 20 in Waldo County Superior Court.
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