legrandangle-lgm

Jesse J. Harvey, 31, entered a guilty plea to one Class A charge of aggravated sexual battery during a brief hearing in Somerset County Superior Court.

Harvey, who has been held in the Somerset County Jail in Madison since his arrest in April, will be sentenced at a future hearing, with both sides arguing for an appropriate sentence.

Timothy Snyder, first assistant district attorney with the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, said in court that the state would limit the recommended sentence to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. Prosecutors’ proposed conditions for supervised release would include requiring Harvey to have no contact with children under the age of 18, except for his own children, and to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and that he is being investigated for sex offenders.

Harvey’s attorney, Lynn Madison, said he also understood these were the maximum sentence guidelines.

Harvey could withdraw the guilty plea if a judge decides a longer sentence is warranted. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine under Maine statute.

Harvey was arrested in Aprilthe Somerset County Sheriff’s Office previously said. The Department of Health and Human Services referred the case to Sheriff Office investigators, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said at the time.

According to prosecutor Snyder, Harvey had a sexual relationship with the victim when she was 12 years old. Harvey is married to a relative of the victim, Snyder said in the state’s summary of evidence if the case had gone to trial.

The Morning Sentinel does not identify victims of sexual assault without their consent.

Earlier this year, the victim, now 16, had an abortion after becoming pregnant with a child believed to be fathered by Harvey, Snyder said. At that point, the victim began talking to police and disclosed the sexual relationship she had with Harvey between August 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020.

The Somerset County grand jury indictment, handed down in May, alleges that the gross sexual assault occurred during that period in the city of Detroit in Somerset County, court records show. Information previously released by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said it took place in Hartland.

In his investigation, Detective Jeremy Leal of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Harvey, who admitted to the assault and said the two had oral sex with each other when she was 12 years old, Snyder said. The sexual relationship then stopped until the victim turned 16, Harvey reportedly told Leal.

The recording of the interview would have been offered as evidence at trial, Snyder said.

Harvey told Leal he knew his actions were wrong, but he couldn’t control himself, Snyder said.

When asked by Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Mullen, who accepted the guilty plea, whether he had anything to correct from Snyder’s statement, Harvey said the victim had suffered a miscarriage, not an abortion. Otherwise, he and his attorney acknowledged the state’s evidence.

During the remainder of the hearing, Harvey, who was shackled and wearing glasses and blue prison scrubs, spoke softly to answer a standard list of questions for entering a guilty plea that Mullen had asked him.

Mullen ordered the state forensic agency to conduct a pre-sentencing risk assessment for Harvey.

Based on the expected timeline for the completion of that report, Mullen tentatively set a sentencing hearing for March 20, 2025, in Skowhegan.

Copy the story link