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March 17, 2010

PITTSTONHome invasionsuspect facesnew charges

BY BETTY ADAMS Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- One of two men charged in a Pittston home invasion that injured a father and daughter severely now faces additional charges.

Daniel L. Fortune, 21, of Augusta is charged with two counts of elevated aggravated assault in addition to 12 charges previously lodged against him.

All charges are related to the home invasion on May 27, 2008, when William Guerrette Jr. and Nicole Guerrette were attacked with a machete, and to a Nov. 17, 2007, theft of $100,000 in cash and historic currency from the Guerrette home.

A grand jury in Kennebec County handed up the new indictment Thursday against Fortune, which also included a charge of violating conditions of release.

"We've uncovered additional evidence, so we've added a couple of charges and joined it to the initial felony theft," District Attorney Evert Fowle said. "It consolidates two separate indictments into one. There was a sufficient connection between both cases to warrant doing so."

Fortune, who has been jailed since June 2008, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was last in court on Dec. 30, when a judge refused to decrease his $1 million bail.

At that time, Fortune's attorney, Pamela Ames, told Justice Nancy Mills that Fortune's foster brother confessed on videotapes to wielding the machete that left the Guerrettes with severe head and arm injuries. She said the videotapes even showed investigators how he held the weapon.

Ames said the foster brother, Leo R. Hylton, 18, told police Fortune stayed in the doorway of the Guerrette home and did not participate in the attack.

William Guerrette, a former state legislator, spent eight weeks in the hospital; Nicole, then 10 years old, was hospitalized for six weeks. Both have scars from the attack.

Fortune, a one-time star athlete at Gardiner Area High School, is set to be arraigned on the new indictment Feb. 17 in Kennebec County Superior Court.

"They can now try him altogether on three separate incidences," Ames said Monday. "If I want them to be severed, the burden's on me to sever them."

The new indictment lists the following charges:

* four counts of aggravated attempted murder, two with pre-meditation and two with extreme cruelty, of William Guerrette and Nicole Guerrette on May 27, 2008, in Pittston;

* two counts of elevated aggravated assault on William and Nicole Guerrette on May 27, 2008, in Pittston;

* attempted murder of Melanie, Ryan and Ashley Guerrette, who were at home when the others were attacked on May 27, 2008;

* theft Nov. 17, 2007, in Pittston;

* failure to appear May 9, 2008, in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta;

* two counts of violation of condition of release, May 9 and May 27, 2008;

* robbery May 27, 2008, in Pittston;

* burglary May 27, 2008, in Pittston; and

* conspiracy to commit robbery May 27, 2008 in Pittston.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

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