AUGUSTA — A Winthrop man on Thursday was cleared of misdemeanor criminal charges resulting from a fatal fire at one of his Augusta apartment buildings over the 2013 Memorial Day weekend.

Ryan Chamberland, 43, pleaded guilty a year ago in Augusta District Court to two counts of violation of public safety rules related to providing adequate and secondary means of egress for tenants.

The case was continued under an agreement that the pleas could be withdrawn and the case dismissed if Chamberland successfully complied with conditions of a yearlong deferred disposition.

They included making a $1,000 donation to the American Red Cross.

“Ryan did everything that was asked of him this past year and his case was very appropriately dismissed,” his attorney, Walter McKee, said by email on Thursday.

In the May 26, 2013, fire at 26 Pleasant St., tenant John Murray, 62, was pulled through the window of his first floor apartment by a passerby who heard screams for help.

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Murray, who suffered burns and significant smoke inhalation, died June 6, 2013, in Maine Medical Center in Portland.

In a separate case handled Thursday in Kennebec County Superior Court, Thomas St. Pierre, 56, of Augusta, pleaded guilty to one count of terrorizing and was sentenced to four days in jail, and given credit for four days served. He also was fined $400 for the Sept. 6 offense in Augusta.

St. Pierre was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence terrorizing and the case was set for a two-day jury trial to begin Wednesday.

However, those charges were dismissed. Assistant District Attorney David Spencer indicated on the dismissal that “the alleged victim has made herself unavailable. This makes it impossible to prove the assault.”


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