Spridal Hubiak, left, is pictured during an arraignment April 3 at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Defense attorney Steve Smith stands beside him. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

AUGUSTA — A Waterville man pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to murdering a co-worker late last year, but the judge in the case rejected his plea out of concern his mental competency has not been reviewed by authorities.

Murder suspect Spridal Hubiak sits during a hearing Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Hubiak entered a guilty plea in connection with the killing of Angela Bragg in Waterville on Dec. 27, 2023, but the judge rejected the plea. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Spridal Hubiak, 21, changed his initial not guilty plea to guilty of intentional or knowing murder, for stabbing his co-worker, Angela Bragg, 52, also of Waterville, at Damon’s Beverage in Waterville on Dec. 27, 2023.

However, Hubiak, represented by lawyers Stephen Smith and Kayla Alves, made his guilty plea at the Capital Judicial Center against their recommendation. Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy then rejected the plea after meeting with lawyers for both sides in judge’s chambers.

Instead, she ordered a mental health evaluation for Hubiak, to determine his competence to proceed in the case. She said that review would be expedited and set a court return date of Oct. 11.

“It may well be the court will be in a position to accept the plea as a knowing and voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights,” Murphy said after rejecting the guilty plea. “However nothing in this file before the court provides the confidence the court needs to ensure the waiver of these important constitutional rights is knowing and voluntary. (The evaluation) assures counsel and the court and the community that a guilty plea is solid and has integrity and can be accepted by the court and the court can then proceed to sentencing.”

Kayla Bragg, one of Angela Bragg’s two daughters, said, “I understand what the judge wants to do to make sure there’s something to fall back on, but people need to understand, there’s some people who are just evil and that’s exactly what (Hubiak) is. And he will be sentenced.”

Bragg’s family members, including her ex-husband, David Bragg, and daughters Kayla and Caitlyn Bragg, were in court for the plea. They had a box of tissues at hand which they used to wipe away tears as Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue recounted the death of their mother.

Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy speaks Tuesday during a plea hearing for Spridal Hubiak at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Hubiak entered a guilty plea in connection with the killing of Angela Bragg in Waterville on Dec. 27, 2023, but Murphy rejected the plea. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

David Bragg said what happened in the courtroom Tuesday was not justice. He said justice will be done when Hubiak goes to prison — street justice.

David Bragg said even though he and Angela were divorced she was still his best friend and she was a good person who fed homeless people on the streets.

Hubiak softly answered “guilty” when asked how he pleaded to the crime of murder, the plea which was later rejected.

Smith said, before Hubiak’s guilty plea was rejected, “Mr. Hubiak has been very eager to plead guilty, from very early on. We recommended against that. We’ve come to this point where there is simply no principled reason for us to not respect our client’s wishes.”

Hubiak, according to Bogue, is seen on video footage from Damon’s stabbing Bragg in the neck, while she pleaded for him to stop.

The attack happened at 8:19 p.m. on the video’s time stamp, according to an affidavit filed by Maine State Police Detective Erin James.

“The video shows the victim, Angela Bragg, standing at the cash register with Spridal pacing back and forth behind her,” the affidavit states. “Spridal is seen with a knife in his hand. Spridal eventually grabs Angela and said ‘I’m sorry’ and began to stab her. Angela screamed ‘no’ and pleads to Spridal to stop and ‘we can fix this.’ Angela appears to pass out but can still be heard breathing. Spridal then picks up Angela and brings her to the ‘tasting room.’”

Bogue said police determined there was an effort to start small fires in the tasting room, which Hubiak told police he set as an afterthought.

Murder suspect Spridal Hubiak, center, stands between defense attorneys Kayla Alves, left, and Stephen Smith during a plea hearing Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Hubiak entered a guilty plea in connection with the killing of Angela Bragg in Waterville on Dec. 27, 2023, but the judge rejected the plea. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

According to the affidavit, a Waterville dispatcher received a 911 call at 4:34 a.m. Dec. 28, 2023, from the store manager of Damon’s Beverage, located at 6 Jefferson St. The manager said there was blood throughout the store and a body in the tasting room. She said she did not know who it was, as she had not looked, but said the person was deceased.

Kayla and Caitlyn Bragg, told the Morning Sentinel in April they felt like they are in a nightmare that doesn’t end. They said their mother was a hard worker and devoted mother and grandmother to her eight grandchildren. They said their mother was the glue in their tight family, selfless and giving, knew how to fix anything, was eager to help and gave the best advice.

“She was the most selfless, giving person there was, and she deserved way better than what she got in this life,” Kayla Bragg said at the time.

They remembered their mother saying last year that she had taken Hubiak under her wing as a sort of son, that he was a good kid and she brought muffins to him at work. He bought her manila envelopes of scratch tickets and gift cards in August, as well as on her birthday in September. The sisters asked their mother if she thought that was weird, with Angela Bragg brushing it off because, even if she did think something was off about Hubiak, she never would have shunned him, they said.

Bogue said co-workers said Hubiak may have wanted to date Angela Bragg.

David Bragg said the much younger Hubiak was infatuated with Angela Bragg and wanted to date her. He said he wished he knew what was going to happen, so it could have been stopped. He said Angela Bragg was a great lady who took a piece of him he’ll never get back.

Hubiak told police there had not been a fight between he and Bragg and “she hadn’t done anything to cause her death,” Bogue said in court Tuesday. He told police he’d been thinking about doing what he did for about a month.

Alves, under questioning from Murphy, said she and Smith had informed Hubiak of possible defenses available to him, including “psychological defenses.” Murphy said the court had previously offered to order a mental health competency evaluation of Hubiak, but the defense rejected that.

Video from Walmart in Waterville showed Hubiak purchasing a GPS, a blanket and a knife Dec. 26, 2023.

Video footage from the day of Bragg’s death, the affidavit states, showed Hubiak locking the front doors of the business at 8:11 p.m. The store’s operating hours would normally be until 9 p.m. Two other workers there left early that night.

Police interviews with Hubiak’s family indicate he left their shared apartment around 11:30 a.m. Dec. 27, and video from Damon’s shows he arrived for work at 12:49 p.m.

After Bragg was killed, Hubiak left Maine. Police found him Dec. 31, 2023, sleeping in a parking lot in Flippin, Arkansas. He fled the scene, launching a chase involving Arkansas State Police and a local police department that ended with Hubiak’s vehicle crashing in a gas station parking lot.

Police say Hubiak then left the car armed with an “AR-style” rifle. A Boone County sheriff’s deputy fired at Hubiak, striking him multiple times, according to an Arkansas State Police news release. The shooting was deemed justified by a prosecuting attorney in Arkansas.

Hubiak was taken to a medical facility in Springfield, Missouri, after the shooting. He was released several days later and taken to a jail in Missouri, where he was held on a murder charge, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. He was extradited to Maine in February.