High-profile central Maine defense attorney Campbell faces misconduct charges

High-profile central Maine defense attorney Campbell faces misconduct charges

The Bowdoinham lawyer who defended the Vassalboro topless coffee shop arsonist is accused of multiple violations related to being named in a Pittston woman’s will.

By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — A once-disbarred attorney is back before a disciplinary panel of his peers on separate complaints that he failed to adequately represent two clients, including an allegation that he was improperly added as a beneficiary in an elderly client’s will.

click image to enlarge

Staff file photo by Joe Phelanmisconduct charges: Andrews Campbell, the defense attorney for Raymond Bellavance Jr., listens to the verdict as a jury in 2011 finds Bellavance guilty of arson related to a 2009 fire that destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro. It was one of Campbell’s most high-profile cases. The Bowdoinham attorney is facing charges of misconduct and multiple violations of the Maine Code of Professional Responsibility with regard to other cases.

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Andrews Campbell, 72, of Bowdoinham, has been the defense attorney in some high profile trials in central Maine, including the defense of Raymond Bellavance Jr., who was convicted of setting fire to the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro in 2009.
The disciplinary petitions that Campbell faces were filed by the Board of Overseers of the Bar and accuse Campbell of misconduct and multiple violations of the Maine Code of Professional Responsibility.
Campbell denies he committed any violations of the code, or, if he did “such violation was inadvertent and did not do harm to any client or the public,” in a filing by his attorney, Justin Andrus.
Campbell said by email, “To my best knowledge, neither (petition) has merit. Beyond that I do not believe further comment would be appropriate at this time.”
Reached by phone Thursday, Andrus said he does not comment on active cases.
One charge says Campbell failed to properly protect the late Mildred D. MacComb of Pittston and her interests.
“Instead Campbell’s actions placed MacComb, her property and her finances at risk,” the petition says. It is based on a complaint filed by Catherine A. Gero, a relative of MacComb.
It cited MacComb’s wills, which Campbell drafted in 2005 and 2006 and which included him as a beneficiary. The 2005 will, filed in Kennebec County Probate Court, lists Campbell as an alternate beneficiary of her sheep and as the recipient of a two-acre parcel she owned in Pittston.
The petition also says Campbell at the same time permitted James A. Richman, a registered sex offender, to move in with MacComb and drafted a document giving Richman a life interest in MacComb’s house.
A 2007 will gives Richman MacComb’s home and land on Mountainview Lane, Pittston, as long as he continued to care for her.
The complaint also says Campbell signed to allow a timber company to drill on property that MacComb had an interest in, yet she received none of the proceeds.
There is a 1998 will as well, heavily marked up in blue ink, each change initialed “MM.” MacComb died in 2010 and a trial in probate court on the three later wills is set for May 9.
A claim by Richman, for $24,000 for care-taking duties, has been rejected by MacComb’s estate. That claim was filed on Richman’s behalf by Campbell.
Attorney Stephen Langsdorf, who was appointed to handle MacComb’s estate, said Wednesday via email that the estate is insolvent. “I am trying to get whatever value there is for creditors,” he said. “We have had a very difficult time serving all the necessary parties.” Notes in the probate file indicate that several heirs listed in the wills are deceased.
Campbell “denies acting in a manner that failed to protect Ms. MacComb or her interests,” according to filings by Andrus.
It also says Campbell took direction from MacComb.
The second petition brought by the overseers’ board is based on a complaint that Campbell failed to properly represent Matthew M. Fleury, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence on 112 convictions in July 2007 for gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and sexual abuse of a minor over a four-year period.
That petition says Campbell drafted a promissory note in May 2006 requiring Fleury to pay two other clients of Campbell $12,000: “It was an improper conflict of interest for Campbell to be the attorney advocate for (the other two clients) in their adversarial financial transaction with Campbell’s then current criminal client, Fleury.”