Kayla Stewart, charged with murdering her newborn son and leaving his remains in the garage of her Fairfield home, will be in Somerset County Superior Court Friday where prosecutors will argue that she be held without bail.
Stewart, 20, entered no plea Jan. 25 in her initial court appearance on the murder charge. Stewart has been held at Somerset County Jail in East Madison since her arrest Jan. 22.
She is represented by Pamela Ames, of Waterville, who said Thursday that she has not determined the amount of bail she’ll be asking the judge to set for Stewart Friday. Ames said she didn’t know what bail was initially set for Stewart, who was represented by attorney of the day Phil Mohlar in the January appearance.
Stewart is alleged to have killed the baby on or around Dec. 31, according to a criminal complaint filed by Maine State Police Detective Scott Bryant. The affidavit spelling out the state’s probable cause in the case and documents such as search warrants and the autopsy report have been sealed because the case is still under investigation, law enforcement officials have said.
Ames said Thursday a Harnish hearing has two steps. The state has to prove probable cause that a capital offense was committed and the person’s right to bail is extinguished, but a judge can re-establish that right to bail and set it. Bail can also be extinguished if the person is a flight risk, danger to the community or danger to the judicial process, she said.
Ames successfully got bail for Mark Halle, charged in a Waterville assault, Wednesday in a Kennebec County Superior Court Harnish hearing. Halle is charged with a variety of offenses in connection with a Feb. 7 attack on a woman in her home. The state was asking that bail be denied, but Justice Michaela Murphy set it at $500,000. Ames was hoping it would be lower than the initial $225,000 that had been set, given Halle had no criminal record.
She said she has yet to determine what bail would be reasonable for Stewart, but said she always asks for an amount her client may be able to make. “Otherwise, what would be the point?”
Fairfield police and the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said they had no record of a police response to 457 Norridgewock Road — the address where Stewart lives with her boyfriend, Nicholas Blood, 25 — in the weeks before the baby’s remains were found.
Stewart was arrested 10 days after police found the remains of a full-term baby boy in the detached garage of the gray mobile home on Norridgewock Road, which is Route 139.
State prosecutors have not commented on whether charges will be brought against Blood and have said the case is still under investigation.
Maine State Police searched the home and garage on Norridgewock Road for four days after discovering the remains of the child on Jan. 11. Police have refused to say what prompted the search.
Blood and Stewart also have a 3-year-old daughter who is staying with relatives, Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said last month.
A murder conviction in Maine is punishable by a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and maximum sentence of life in prison.
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