AUGUSTA — A St. Albans man who pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in the April 2016 shooting death of his uncle is now also pleading insanity, setting up a trial in November.
Jeremy G. Erving, 25, was in a courtroom Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center with his defense attorneys, Philip Mohlar and Peter Barnett.
When Supreme Court Associate Justice Andrew Mead asked how Erving wanted to respond to the plea of intentional or knowing murder, Erving said, “Not guilty.”
Mohlar, on Erving’s behalf, then entered a second plea of not criminally responsible due to mental defect or disease.
Mead accepted the pleas, and then the proceedings were closed so the justice and the attorneys could engage in a settlement conference. The prosecutor is Assistant Attorney General Bud Ellis.
Ultimately those negotiations failed, so the case is now set for jury trial in November in Somerset County in front of Superior Court Justice Robert Mullen.
Jeremy Erving is accused of shooting Randy Erving, 53, also of St. Albans, in the head on April 7, 2016, following a day of heavy drinking.
Police stopped Jeremy Erving at 1 a.m. the next morning in Randy Irving’s truck in the Penobscot County town of Dexter on a charge of operating under the influence, according to an affidavit by Detective Hugh Landry, of the Maine State Police.
An Intoxilyzer test determined that the younger Erving’s blood-alcohol level was 0.24 — three times the legal limit for driving.
Also in the truck was a loaded .30-30 rifle that Erving later said he had stolen from the home of another relative, and Randy Erving’s dog, according to police.
When his girlfriend and her father went to the Penobscot County Jail to bail him out, Erving told them he had shot his uncle in the back of the head and he didn’t know why he did it, according to the police affidavit.
They all went to the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, where Jeremy Erving repeated his story, saying he didn’t remember much.
“I asked, ‘So you remember you shot him?'” Landry wrote, “and Jeremy stated, ‘Well …’ and stated he was the only one there, it was pretty obvious.”
Randy Erving’s body was found in the bedroom of his McNally Road home.
Jeremy Erving had undergone a court-ordered forensic evaluation of his mental health to determine his competence to enter a plea and to stand trail. Barnett said Wednesday that Erving had been found competent to proceed.
Erving is being held at the Somerset County jail.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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