Abbot man pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of father

By Judy Harrison
BDN Staff

SKOWHEGAN — The Abbot man accused of shooting his father to death in May in Parkman and then turning the gun on himself pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter in Somerset County District Court.

Zachary Grant, 38, originally was charged with murder in the death of David Grant, 61, on May 12 at the older man’s rural home.

That charge is expected to be dismissed after Grant is sentenced March 31 at the Piscataquis County Courthouse in Dover-Foxcroft. There is no agreement on a sentencing recommendation, according to defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor.

Assistant Attorney General John Alsop, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment after the hearing on the change of plea or Grant’s possible sentence.

Grant faces up to 30 years in prison on the manslaughter charge. If he had been convicted of murder, he would have faced between 25 years and life behind bars.

Friday’s change-of-plea hearing was held in Skowhegan instead of in Dover-Foxcroft at the request of Superior Court Justice Robert Mullen.

Grant entered an Alford plea. He agreed the state could prove he was guilty of manslaughter without admitting to all the details outlined in the affidavit.

Silverstein told the judge his client has no memory of the events of the day his father died.

This type of plea — named for the U.S. Supreme Court case North Carolina v. Alford, decided in 1970 — is “a guilty plea that a defendant enters as part of a plea bargain, without actually admitting guilt,” according to Black’s Law Dictionary.

In earlier court appearances, Grant wore a medical helmet because of injuries suffered from the self-inflicted gunshot wound. He did not wear a helmet Friday, but his left eye remained closed throughout the hearing.

Dressed in yellow and orange jail clothes, Grant spoke clearly to the judge.

Grant told Maine State Police Detective Thomas Pickering that he did not remember going to his father’s house and that “his memory loss [was] due to intoxication from alcohol,” according to the court affidavit filed last year at the Piscataquis County Courthouse.

He also told detectives he had been hearing voices and was on prescribed antidepressant medication that he did not take on the day his father died.

Grant told Pickering “that he heard voices on May 12; that he does not remember what the voices told him to do.”

An Abbot man who stopped by David Grant’s Packard Road home about 10 p.m. May 12 found Zachary Grant inside the residence injured and bleeding, according to the affidavit.

The visiting man called 911 and said “Zachary Grant stated to him that he had killed his father, that he did not see Zachary’s father; that Zachary was injured and having difficulty speaking; that Zachary was seated in a chair inside the residence and that he was covered in blood,” according to the affidavit.

Police found David Grant on the ground outside beside his son’s truck, and the state medical examiner’s office determined he died from three gunshot wounds to his head, according to the affidavit. Zachary Grant was found injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face.

The gunshot wound was found under his chin, and the bullet “traveled up behind Zachary’s right eye and into his brain,” one doctor interviewed by Pickering said.

Grant initially was taken to Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, then, transferred by LifeFlight helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He later was treated at Acadia Hospital, where he was arrested May 27 upon his release.

Grant has been held without bail at the Piscataquis County Jail since his arrest.

BDN writer Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.