Maine Newspaper Cleared in Defamation Case Involving Alleged Sexual Abuse of Minors by Police
ALFRED, Me. (April 1, 2022) - A York County Superior Court jury has found in favor of a Maine newspaper and two reporters accused of defamation for reporting on adolescent boys’ allegations of sexual abuse by a former Biddeford police captain dating back to the 1970s.
After seven years of litigation and a two-and-a-half-week trial, the jury this week took just an hour before clearing the Biddeford-Saco-Old Orchard Beach Courier of defamation and invasion of privacy claims filed by former Biddeford Police Captain Norman Gaudette and his wife.
Gaudette accused the Courier, owned by Mainely Media LLC, of defaming him when it reported in April 2015 on allegations that Gaudette and another Biddeford officer had sexually abused youth. His wife, Joanne Gaudette, joined her husband in the lawsuit, suing for loss of consortium.
“The plaintiffs not only sued the newspaper but the reporters individually in an attempt to scare them and to chill their speech,” said Cynthia Counts of Fisher Broyles in Atlanta, representing the newspapers. “The jury’s unanimous verdict not only exonerates the newspaper and its reporters but also helps vindicate those victims who had never had the chance to present their abuse claims before a judge and jury."
Counts, who specializes in media and First Amendment law, took over the case from another attorney and has worked on it for more than five years. Attorneys Toby Dilworth and Melissa Hewey of Drummond Woodsum in Portland assisted at trial.
The newspaper initially began looking into the allegations involving several Biddeford police officers in 2015 following a public outcry by a Biddeford native who claimed in a social media post that when he was in high school, he had been brutally sexually assaulted by a Biddeford police officer.
Through the spring of 2015, others began to come forward, including a retired Biddeford police officer, Terry Davis, who said the sexual abuse claims regarding the department had merit.
Defendants Molly Lovell-Keely, the Courier’s managing editor, and reporter Ben Meiklejohn, among others at the paper, made extensive efforts to investigate the abuse claims, contacting alleged victims, family members, the plaintiff and his attorney, state Attorney’s General investigators, and current and former Biddeford officers.
On March 5, 2015, the Courier published the first in a six-week series of 29 investigative news reports about the Biddeford Police Department’s and Attorney Generals handling of the sexual assault charges. The trial focused on just two of those stories that pertained to allegations against Gaudette.
Now 73 years old, Gaudette was placed on administrative leave in 1990 when allegations first surfaced. The Maine AG’s office investigated Gaudette but a grand jury chose not to indict him.
Gaudette was reinstated as a police officer in 1991 after the investigation concluded, and retired as a captain in 2001.
An investigator with the Attorney General's office who was on the case in 1990, confirmed at trial that the AG’s office failed to present evidence to the grand jury that would have brought to light the severity of allegations against Gaudette -- characterizing the failure as a "cover-up."
Trial jurors were charged with determining whether there was falsity and malice in the 2015 reporting, ultimately determining that Gaudette had not proven the articles to be false.
Lovell-Keely testified at the trial for a total of 29 hours combined. Three of the accusers, now middle-aged men, also testified, describing in detail how Gaudette allegedly abused them.
"Victims of sexual abuse in Biddeford finally obtained some justice this week," said Lovell-Keely, following the verdict.
Although other media outlets, including The Boston Globe, reported on the issue in Biddeford, The Courier was the only publication to be sued.
