A Louisiana man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter after Maine police accused him of killing his girlfriend’s young son in Owl’s Head.

Aziayh Scott appears in Knox County Superior Court in July. He is charged with one count of manslaughter in the death of 22-month-old Quayshawn Wilson. Screenshot from Zoom hearing

Aziayh Scott, 23, was arraigned in Knox County Superior Court Thursday afternoon. He is accused of killing 22-month-old Quayshawn Wilson, who was found unresponsive at a Thomaston Walmart on May 29.

Scott is being held on $50,000 bail. A trial date has not yet been scheduled.

He spoke little during the brief hearing via Zoom on Thursday, other than to enter his plea and assure Justice Patrick Larson that he understood the charge and his rights.

His lawyer, Christopher MacLean, previously cast doubt on allegations that Scott had stomped on the toddler, causing his death.

An affidavit for Scott’s arrest was still unavailable to the public immediately after his court appearance, but a state prosecutor discussed details of the document in earlier proceedings.

Quayshawn’s mother, Shaneka Washington, was working in Maine as a travel nurse. The couple had just arrived to Owls Head a day earlier, although Scott had previously come up with Washington on another work trip and worked at the local Home Depot.

Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Liam Funte determined that Quayshawn died of a lacerated liver and internal bleeding, which Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman has said could have resulted from someone stomping on the boy.

But MacLean said last month that the injuries could have been caused by improper life-saving measures from too much force being used during CPR.

MacLean hasn’t said why he thinks Quayshawn might have been unresponsive in the first place, but both he and Ackerman have said there are videos of the boy seeming healthy earlier that day.

Unless the state dismisses the charge, MacLean said this case is definitely going to a jury, possibly next summer.

“Aziayh did not harm the baby and would never harm anyone,” MacLean said in an email. “Our view is that the state has no evidence at all suggesting that Aziayh is guilty of anything.”

BAIL ARGUMENTS

Scott has been at Two Bridges Regional Jail since the summer. He was arrested by Louisiana State Police outside of New Orleans on June 3, days after Quayshawn’s death, and later transferred to Maine.

His family, who is also in Louisiana, has been trying desperately to lower his bail. On Oct. 31, they flew into Maine for a second bail hearing in Rockland where MacLean highlighted the circumstantial nature of the allegations against Scott and his limited financial means. Scott’s family has only been able to raise about $15,000 to post for bail.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm agreed on Nov. 4 to lower Scott’s bail to $50,000, a drastic reduction from the $250,000 that was originally set on July 22.

MacLean said he was grateful Hjelm considered the case carefully but said his client still suffers from an unfair bail system. If Scott were rich, MacLean said, he could keep his job, meet regularly with his lawyer and receive excellent mental health and medical care.

Instead, MacLean said Scott remains “in a noisy, dirty, and often violent jail,” where he has to meet with his lawyer “through heavy plate glass where (we) both need to yell to be heard over the yelling and commotion of the jail.”

Scott has no criminal history. His mother said during the Oct. 31 bail hearing that he was a good student, raised in a religious community where his parents worked hard to keep him out of the criminal justice system.

She believes in his innocence and said she has struggled with how her son has been described in court hearings and news coverage since his arrest, including the state’s allegations of domestic violence between Scott and Washington.

Scott was arrested in Louisiana days after Quayshawn’s death as a fugitive, according to police, but MacLean has argued that Scott thought he had permission from Maine State Police to leave for Quayshawn’s funeral.

Scott called Washington several times from jail, asking her to speak with detectives and prosecutors for the state. Ackerman has argued this amounted to witness tampering and violated no-contact orders.

While Scott was waiting in a Louisiana jail to be transferred to Maine, Ackerman said he also called his ex-girlfriend, urging her to speak with police in a separate case where he was wanted for robbery and violating a protection order.

Those charges were dismissed and MacLean has suggested they could have been a ruse. Neither he nor Ackerman have been able to obtain any further information on what happened.