2 charged in separate baby deaths Cases heard in Machias, Skowhegan

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MACHIAS – Two young men charged with manslaughter in the unrelated deaths of babies made their first appearances in separate courts on Monday.

William Bryson, 22, of East Machias showed no emotion as a District Court judge in Machias read from the complaint alleging Bryson killed his 2 1/2-year-old stepson, Damon Edward Nason. Bryson entered no plea.

Across the state in Skowhegan, 23-year-old Mika Mitchell of Skowhegan entered no plea in his first court appearance since being arrested Friday in the death of his 1-month-old daughter.

Pandora Mitchell was taken by ambulance from her home at 14 Family Circle in Skowhegan on Monday, March 3, and she died three days later at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor after being taken off life support.

Police are releasing few details in either case, and the arrest affidavits are being withheld by both courts.

But according to the complaint against Bryson on file with the Down East court, “on or about March 1 … William Bryson did recklessly or with criminal negligence cause the death of Damon Nason.”

A friend of Bryson’s said Monday she did not believe he was responsible for his stepson’s death. Raven Paquette, 25, of Machias said the family told her the boy slipped in the bathtub while bathing.

Bryson made his first appearance in court Monday over closed-circuit television from the Washington County Jail in Machias. Dressed in orange jail garb, Bryson stood next to his attorney, Norman Toffolon of Machias.

In his motion to impound the affidavit in Bryson’s case, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said release of the information would jeopardize the ongoing homicide investigation.

According to an earlier statement by the Maine State Police, Damon was taken by ambulance sometime on Saturday, March 1, to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The youngster died the next day. After an investigation by state police, Bryson was arrested on Friday, March 7.

In his argument to get Bryson’s bail reduced from the $100,000 it had been set at over the weekend, Toffolon said his client was not a flight risk and had voluntarily turned himself in when an arrest warrant was issued.

The attorney also said his client’s only brush with the law involved traffic violations, and that once bailed, he would live with his parents, Herman and Catherine Bryson, and would check in daily with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

Toffolon requested that bail be set at $25,000 equity, an amount he said Bryson’s family could raise.

While acknowledging that a manslaughter charge was serious, District Court Judge John Romei noted that Bryson had cooperated with police. He then set bail at $30,000 surety or $15,000 cash.

Bryson, however, remained in the county jail Monday night.

In the other separate case, Mitchell’s brief hearing in Skowhegan was before District Court Judge James MacMichael. Somerset County District Attorney Evert Fowle said bail for Mitchell was set at $100,000 single surety and that he remains in custody at Somerset County Jail.

Fowle expected the case to be presented to a grand jury for indictment in April.

According to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police, Pandora Mitchell, who was born on Jan. 30, 2008, and her father had been living with the child’s mother, 17-year-old Tasha Lewis.

Mika Mitchell was arrested in connection with the 1-month-old’s death at the Skowhegan Police Department late Friday night after being interviewed there by both state and Skowhegan police, McCausland said.

The court and police were mum about details in both cases.

Bryson’s friend, Raven Paquette, had a lot to say to a reporter Monday as she wiped her eyes and watched the proceedings from a bench in the Machias courtroom.

Paquette said she was a friend of the defendant and Tawnya Bryson, 28, Damon’s mother.

At the time of his death, Damon lived with his mother and Bryson, who were married on Valentine’s Day, Paquette said. There were two other children in the Bryson home at the time of Damon’s death, Jayden Bryson, 1, who is William and Tawnya Bryson’s son, and Lexis Nason, 4.

According to Damon Nason’s obituary published on March 5 in the Bangor Daily News, Damon and Lexis Nason’s biological father Jeremy lives in Eastbrook.

Paquette said that Bryson did carpentry work, but was currently unemployed. “He was in the process of looking for other jobs,” she said.

Paquette described Damon as an active child.

“[Bryson and the children] had pillow fights in the living room. Their favorite thing was dart [guns], and they loved to get into Lexis’ makeup. That was Damon’s favorite thing to do,” she said.

She said Bryson never raised his voice to the child, and the only evidence of discipline she saw was Damon being placed in the corner when he was bad.

Paquette said she was at the Bryson house the Thursday night before Damon was taken to the hospital. “I kissed him good night,” she said.

Bryson called her on Saturday night about an hour after Damon was taken to the hospital, she said.

“He started to tell me what was going on. The way he cried and the way his voice and how hurt and scared and upsetting it was for him to know what was going on. I had to hand the phone over to my husband, and I headed up to the hospital,” she said.

Asked if she had questioned the family about what happened, Paquette said she had not. “I still have not pried my nose into that. I don’t think it is the appropriate time to ask or question. I do know that Damon was taking a bath, and I do feel that he fell off balance and might have slipped. But who knows. I don’t feel that it is the right time for me to pry into their business. I just knew that it was time to be supportive for Damon, Will and Tawnya.”

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