MEXICO, Maine — A Mexico man pleaded not guilty Monday to intentional or knowing murder in connection with the shooting death of his 27-year-old stepson, Nicholas Trynor, on Aug. 6.
Thomas Tellier appeared in Oxford County Superior Court. He remains held without bail.
Tellier reportedly told police Trynor had threatened him, and he was afraid his stepson would attack him. Tellier said Trynor was upset when he awoke the day of the shooting because the electricity in their home on Intervale Road had gone out and that the two men argued after Trynor became upset when a child in the home hit him.
Tellier allegedly told police he was "sick and tired of being bullied and harassed by Nicholas, so he shot him," police wrote in an affidavit.
Trynor was shot twice with a shotgun.
But Tellier's wife, Jessica Tellier, told NEWS CENTER Maine in August that she was just outside the house at the time of the shooting and that her husband did not act in self-defense.
"This was not self-defense. They had stopped arguing. Tom went into the bedroom and came out with a gun and shot him from down the hall," Jessica Tellier said. "And Nicholas said, 'Stop!' and he shot him again. Pumped that gun and he shot him again."
If convicted, Tellier faces up to 25 years in prison.