A dust-up at the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office in Augusta in June has put two brothers behind bars for a bit.

In back-to-back hearings at the Capital Judicial Center, Joshua A. Cloutier, 34, and Jacob M. Cloutier, 30, both of Augusta, pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges stemming from a June 19 incident at the office in the Kennebec County Courthouse, 95 State St.

“This was essentially an altercation that took place at the (county) courthouse earlier this summer,” the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Gregg Bernstein told Judge Eric Walker. “Both got involved in a shouting, pushing and shoving altercation when they were arrested for being disorderly.”

Bernstein said he was serving as the prosecutor because the district attorney’s office was involved in the case.

“We believe that with everything taken together, this is an appropriate resolution,” Bernstein added.

Walker found Joshua Cloutier guilty of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass and sentenced him to serve an initial 10 days with the remainder of the 180-day jail sentence suspended while he spends a year on administrative release.

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A charge of refusing to submit to arrest was dismissed against Joshua Cloutier, who was represented by attorney Joshua Klein-Golden.

Walker found Jacob Cloutier guilty of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and refusing to submit to arrest. A charge of terrorizing, which said he made a verbal threat to a district attorney’s office employee, was dismissed by the state.

Jacob Cloutier was sentenced to serve an initial 21 days in jail with the remainder of the 180-day jail sentence suspended while he spends a year on administrative release. His attorney was Dennis Jones.

Conditions of the administrative release prohibit them from returning to the district attorney’s office; however, they can contact them by phone for official business.

After the hearing, District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said via email, “My thanks to the AG’s Office for handling these cases in an expeditious and professional manner. People need to be safe in their place of work, including people who work in the DA’s Office.”

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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