AUBURN, Maine — A man charged as an accomplice in a 2022 murder in Lewiston has been denied bail, following the release of new video evidence by the state.
On Tuesday, Aug. 29, Justice Harold Stewart sided with the state's motion to amend bail for Andrew Stallings of Rumford. He's one of two men charged with the murder of Nicholas Blake at his home on River Street in Lewiston last October. Stallings is also facing counts of burglary and robbery.
The other man charged in this case, Barry Zollarcoffer of Lewiston, has already been denied bail. He has been charged with the intentional or knowing murder of Blake.
At the Androscoggin County Superior Court Tuesday, deputy district attorney Kate Bozeman presented new video evidence, handed over to authorities by the current tenants who live in Blake's apartment. She said they discovered the security footage a while ago but had been hanging on to it, wagering whether they wanted to get more involved in the case.
Bozeman played the video in court. NEWS CENTER Maine was not allowed to record the screen, but Bozeman said the video shows Stallings shouting threatening phrases during the burglary the night Blake was killed, including, "Sit down!", "Don't move!", and "Give me the phone!"
Bozeman said even though Zollarcoffer was the person holding the gun who actually shot and killed Blake, Stallings had weapons of his own.
"He has again that cord with a rope type of an instrument. He has what appears to be some type of a baton in his hand as they enter. He has handcuffs that appear to fall out of his pocket," Bozeman said.
Defense attorney Jesse Archer argued Tuesday that this video doesn't change what the court had already considered in its decision to allow bail.
"The circumstances of the case hasn't changed. It's the same defendant. It's the same charges, and much of what the video portrays is what the court had already considered," Archer said.
Archer also told Justice Stewart that Stallings has been cooperating, and there shouldn't be a concern about a threat to the public, or to the people who submitted the new video evidence to authorities.
"There's a baseless allegation that because there's a video somebody found, somehow that means Andrew Stallings with no other information is going to go on some vendetta against these people, even though doing so means he would certainly lose his ability to have bail," Archer said.
Still, Justice Stewart sided with the state, saying allowing either Stallings or Zollarcoffer bail would "pose a substantial risk to the integrity of the judicial process" and "pose a danger to others in the community".
Trial dates for Stallings and Zollarcoffer have not been set yet.