A Louisiana man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter after Maine police accused him of killing his girlfriend’s young son in Owl’s Head.

Aziayh Scott appears in Knox County Superior Court in July. He is charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-month-old Quayshawn Wilson. Screenshot from the Zoom hearing

Aziayh Scott, 23, was arraigned in Knox County Superior Court Thursday afternoon. He is accused of killing 22-month-old Quayshawn Wilson, who was found unanswered at a Thomaston Walmart on May 29.

He is being held on $50,000 bail. A court date has not yet been scheduled.

Scott spoke little during the brief Zoom hearing other than to plead not guilty and assure Superior Court Judge Patrick Larson that he understood the charge against him and his rights.

His lawyer, Christopher MacLean, previously questioned the allegations from the state in which Scott had trampled the little child, causing his death.

An affidavit for Scott’s arrest was not yet available to the public immediately after his court appearance, but a state prosecutor discussed details of the document in earlier proceedings.

Quayshawn’s mother, Shaneka Washington, worked in Maine as a travel nurse. The couple had just arrived at Owls Head a day early, although Scott had previously come with Washington on another business trip and worked at the local Home Depot.

Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Liam Funte determined that Quayshawn died of a lacerated liver and internal bleeding, which Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman said may have been the result of someone stepping on the boy.

But MacLean ssuggested last month that injuries may have resulted from citizens who tried to render aid and used an inappropriate amount of force during CPR.

MacLean did not say why he thinks Quayshawn might have been unresponsive in the first place, but both he and Ackerman said there are videos of the boy appearing healthy earlier in the day.

Unless the state dismisses the charge, MacLean said the case will almost certainly go to a jury, possibly next summer.

“Aziayh did not harm the child and would not harm anyone,” MacLean said in an email. “It is our view that the state has absolutely no evidence to suggest that Aziayh is guilty of anything.”

BAIL ARGUMENTS

Scott has been in Two Bridges Regional Jail since the summer. He was arrested by Louisiana State Police outside New Orleans on June 3, a few days after Quayshawn’s death, and later transferred to Maine.

His family, also in Louisiana, tried desperately to get his bail reduced. On October 31stthey flew to Maine for a second bail hearing in Rockland, where MacLean highlighted the circumstantial nature of the charges against Scott and his limited financial means. Scott’s family was only able to raise about $15,000 to post bail.

Retired Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hjelm agreed Nov. 4 to reduce Scott’s bail to $50,000, a drastic reduction. from $250,000 which was originally set on July 22.

MacLean said he’s grateful Hjelm reviewed the case carefully, but said his client still suffers from an unfair bail system. If Scott were rich, MacLean said, he could keep his job, meet regularly with his lawyer and receive excellent mental health and medical care.

Instead, MacLean said Scott remains “in a noisy, dirty and often violent prison” where he must meet with his lawyer “through heavy glass, where (we both) have to scream to be heard over the screaming and of the prison agitation.”

Scott has no criminal record. His mother said during an Oct. 31 bond hearing that he was a good student, raised in a religious community where his parents worked hard to keep him out of the criminal justice system.

She believes in his innocence and said she has struggled with how her son has been portrayed in court hearings and in news reports since his arrest, including state charges of domestic violence between Scott and Washington.

Scott was arrested in Louisiana days after Quayshawn’s death as a fugitive, according to police, but MacLean claimed Scott believed he had permission from Maine State Police to go to Quayshawn’s funeral.

Scott called Washington several times from prison, asking to speak with detectives and state prosecutors. Ackerman argued that this amounted to witness tampering and violated the no-contact orders.

While Scott was waiting in a Louisiana jail to be transferred to Maine, Ackerman said he also called his ex-girlfriend, urging her to talk to police in a separate case in which he was wanted for robbery and trespassing a protection order.

These charges were dismissed, and MacLean suggested it may have been a ruse. Neither she nor Ackerman were able to get any further information about what happened.

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