James Peters, center, of Mexico speaks Wednesday with his attorney, Mitchell Roberge, in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris. Peters is on trial facing charges of intentionally or knowingly endangering the welfare of his fiancee, Joyce Brackett, 83, at her home she shared with him in Mexico in 2021. Joe Charpentier/Sun Journal
PARIS — James Peters told state police he wasn’t responsible for endangering the welfare his fiancee, who was found in her bedroom by paramedics in 2021 semiconscious with bed sores, broken ribs, a rotted jaw, covered in feces and in great pain, according to testimony Wednesday at his trial in Oxford County Superior Court.
Joyce Brackett, 83, died Feb. 13, 2021, at Maine Medical Center in Portland from a heart condition, according to a medical examiner. She had been brought there three days earlier from Rumford Hospital.
According to Maine State Police detectives, Peters, 71, was identified as a suspect in an investigation into Brackett’s condition.
“I’m not guilty of anything,” Peters said in an audio recording played for jurors Wednesday, the third day of his trial.
The interview with state police detectives came about a day after Brackett’s death. “We wanted to spend the rest of our time together … and that’s why I’m so upset she went downhill so fast,” Peters said on the recording.
Police confronted Peters, suggesting the worst of Brackett’s injuries, decaying tissue that had eaten through her jaw and left a hole in her mouth couldn’t have been a mystery to him before he called for medical intervention.
Citing Brackett’s wish not to die in a hospital, Peters told police he had long debated whether to call 911. He said at one point shortly before calling an ambulance on Feb. 10, Brackett urged him to her bedside. “‘I love you,’ she said. ‘I love you. I love you.’”
Detectives told Peters that she likely could not have communicated with him in any way due to atrophy of the brain, a sign of dementia.
“Well, I think she was coherent and knew I was there,” Peters said, adding that she, however, “was quiet, would sit in her chair and stare out the window,” and that he noticed she would cry.
State police Detective Reid Bond, one of the officers in the recording, testified that a study of Brackett’s financials showed no anomalies until three days prior to his 911 call, and about 30 minutes after her hospitalization.
Prosecutors played two videos, one from Feb. 7 and another from Feb. 10, showing Peters withdrawing $500 from Brackett’s account each time.
Peters noted in the interview that Brackett paid all the bills and that as Brackett’s fiance, he would have no claim to her home at 351 Main St. or financials.
They had resided there for six years, according to testimony.
Peters maintained from prior interviews that his inaction as Brackett’s health deteriorated was due to an inner struggle weighing his responsibility against Brackett’s alleged end-of-life wishes — she wanted to die at home.
“I was afraid I’d get in trouble with her,” Peters said. “She did not want me to call the hospital … My only hope was that I didn’t wait too long … I felt scared that I let it get out of control. I felt terrible for her and for me.”
On Monday, witnesses, including medical personnel and Brackett’s two children, testified about the deterioration of Brackett’s health, her isolation from family and friends and Peters’ alleged role.
After Peters called 911 about her condition, Brackett was transported to Rumford Hospital and then via LifeFlight of Maine to Maine Medical Center where she died.
The defense called Ann Rovner of California, a certified critical care nurse, who testified it is common for those close to people in Brackett’s state not to recognize the severity of some symptoms. She also said the hole Brackett had in her face could have taken days or weeks to form and may not have appeared as concerning until fairly recent to the day Peters called 911.
After wrapping up testimony, Peters’ attorneys, James Howaniec and Mitchell Roberge, submitted a motion to dismiss the charge on grounds that prosecutors did not establish that a crime had been committed.
Justice Maria Woodman denied their request, saying evidence supported that a crime could be inferred.
In her closing statement, Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Russell said evidence showed Peters intentionally put off seeking medical care and did nothing as he sat by and watched Brackett deteriorate.
“He conceded that he knew the hole that he could see had been developing in her jaw for about two to three weeks before he called 911, and he did nothing,” Russell said. “He admitted that he knew Joyce was in significant pain.”
Howaniec argued in his closing statement that one of the prosecution’s witnesses, state medical examiner Dr. Liam Funte, said Brackett’s cause of death was heart disease, that one of her major arteries had a 95% blockage and that her rib fractures and other injuries could have benign causes not related to trauma or abuse.
“A lay person without any medical training, or even a trained doctor, for that matter, would not be able to identify Joyce’s heart disease, which (Dr. Funte) says was her ultimate cause of death,” Howaniec said. He added that Funte indicated that even doctors usually can’t identify rib fractures on sight of a patient. “If their own witness is telling you that it’s possible that this was not neglect, that’s a doubt. End of discussion.”
If convicted, Peters faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Jurors are scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday morning.
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