Poland woman points finger at system for not preventing murder

Yaicha Provencher says she was never told about a long-term treatment program available in Maine, despite her ex-boyfriend's many hospitalizations.

Yaicha Provencher wipes away tears Monday after speaking in Augusta about her struggle to obtain mental health treatment for her former boyfriend, Justin Butterfield, 34, who was charged with murdering his brother in Poland last week. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

The former girlfriend of a Poland man charged in the murder of his brother Thanksgiving morning said Maine’s failed mental health system is to blame for the tragic event.

Justin Butterfield, 34, who is charged with the intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder of his brother, Gabriel Damour, 38, is expected to claim he was not in a criminally responsible state of mind at the time of the crime, according to his lawyer.

Yaicha Provencher said Monday at a press conference at the Maine State House that she had never been told about a state law that would have put Butterfield on a strict monitoring schedule to help manage his illness.

Four years ago, Butterfield began to exhibit signs of a brain disorder that would later be diagnosed as schizophrenia, Provencher said.

He experienced paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, she said.

​Butterfield has been hospitalized eight times since 2019, she said, seven times at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

Jeanne Allen Gore describes multiple hospitalizations her child experienced before his mental health stabilized during a news conference Monday in Augusta. Gore is the Coordinator for National Shattering Silence Coalition. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

read full article