Gov. Janet Mills announced Friday that she has appointed a former judge who served on the highest court in Maine’s judicial system to oversee a hearing on whether the Oxford County sheriff should be removed from office.
In an executive order, Mills appointed former Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Donald G. Alexander as the hearing officer for the process by which the governor will decide whether to remove Sheriff Christopher Wainwright from office.
Alexander, who was the longest-serving active justice in Maine history when he retired in 2020, will be responsible for setting up the hearing process and providing a written report to the governor with his recommendation based on the evidence presented.
“The Hearing Officer’s recommendation is advisory and the Governor retains final decision-making authority,” Mills said in a statement.
Under the Maine Constitution, only the governor may remove an elected sheriff from office “upon complaint, due notice and hearing” if she finds the sheriff “is not faithfully or efficiently performing any duty imposed on the sheriff by law.”
Mills’ executive order also establishes that the sheriff must be given an opportunity to submit a written answer to the complaint that Oxford County commissioners sent to the governor on Wednesday.
In it, the commissioners asked that she remove Wainwright, a Republican who became sheriff in 2019, for failing to “faithfully or efficiently perform duties imposed on him by law.”
They said the sheriff illegally traded guns from evidence, allowed uncertified but armed cops to work as school resource officers, and rebuked a deputy who reported the sheriff for asking the deputy to go easy on an acquaintance.
He also disposed of county exercise equipment without approval after being rebuked for similar actions and while under investigation for selling guns, commissioners wrote in their request.
The last time a governor removed a sheriff appears to have been in 1926 in Kennebec County.
The executive order states that the hearing will be public, and the hearing officer’s report will become public upon the announcement of the governor’s decision.
It also states that, if the hearing officer finds probable cause of criminal activity, he shall refer matters to law enforcement for further investigation.
In addition, if he uncovers “substantial questions about the professional conduct of any member of law enforcement,” he shall report them to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, which oversees police certifications.
