ELLSWORTH, Maine — Jury selection wrapped up Tuesday in the trial of Raymond Lester, the man accused of killing his girlfriend in a hit-and-run in Acadia National Park and then fleeing the country.
Lester is charged with the murder of Nicole Mokeme, who was leading a retreat connected with her Portland nonprofit in Acadia National Park on June 18, 2022. Her body was found on a walking trail near the Schoodic Institute after an apparent hit-and-run.
According to an affidavit from a Deputy U.S. Marshal, witnesses in the area say Raymond Lester was drinking vodka and driving erratically in the hours before Mokeme’s death. One witness also says Lester told them "[Mokeme] doesn’t like me anymore."
Shortly after Mokeme’s death, Lester fled the state. Police tracked his license plate down the Eastern U.S. to near Sierra Blanca, Texas on June 21. After that, his location became unknown.
A month later, U.S. Marshals and Mexican police arrested Lester in Cancun, Mexico and extradited him to Hancock County. As his trial now gets underway, legal experts say the fact of his fleeing could play a central role in the prosecution’s pursuit of a guilty verdict.
"A flight is not enough to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt," Portland defense attorney Timothy Zerillo—who is not connected to the case—said on Tuesday. "But it is something they can consider if they think it goes to his consciousness of guilt."
As for the defense, Zerillo says their argument might hinge on proving that Lester didn’t intend to kill Mokeme, which if accepted by the jury, would clear him of murder.
"They might be looking to argue that he didn’t cause her death in the manner that the state claims," Zerillo said.
The trial is set to begin Wednesday morning at the Hancock Superior Court in Ellsworth.