Trai Larue of Lewiston sits Monday with his attorney, Justin Leary, in Androscoggin County Superior Court. Larue pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter related to a 2020 stabbing in Auburn. Screenshot from video
AUBURN — A Lewiston man admitted Monday to manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a Massachusetts man at a local McDonald’s restaurant in July 2020.
Trai Larue, 23, pleaded guilty in Androscoggin County Superior Court to the felony charge, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
In an agreement reached with prosecutors, Larue would serve between 17 and 20 years of a 25-year sentence, of which at least five years would be suspended. He will be able to argue at sentencing for the lesser time behind bars.
After his release, he would be on probation for four years, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said Monday.
Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date, Justice Harold Stewart II said.
Larue was indicted by a grand jury with intentional or knowing murder of Roger “Jordan” Cornell, 21, of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Conviction for murder in Maine is punishable by 25 years to life in prison. Prosecutors are expected to dismiss that charge.
Larue told police he was mad at Cornell because Larue had been told Cornell had made sexual advances toward Larue’s girlfriend.
Trai Larue Androscoggin County Jail photo
When Larue spotted Cornell walking along Center Street on July 29, 2020, police said he stopped his car. He and his girlfriend confronted Cornell on the sidewalk on Center Street. Larue tried to punch Cornell, but missed. His girlfriend hit Cornell.
Larue’s brother arrived at the scene shortly afterward. A surveillance video from McDonald’s shows the Larue brothers, Cornell and a woman other than Larue’s girlfriend walking behind the restaurant, then walking back toward the sidewalk when a scuffle took place and the stabbing occurred.
Larue fled the scene but was later tracked down and arrested.
He told police he hadn’t meant for the confrontation to result in Cornell’s death.
Blood matching Cornell’s was found in the McDonald’s parking lot, on Larue’s car and a folding knife that was recovered by police.
Cornell was taken to a Lewiston hospital for emergency surgery for a single stab wound to his chest, but died in the operating room, Zainea said.
Larue will remain in the Androscoggin County Jail without bail pending his sentencing.
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