The Farmingdale man accused of committing a deadly shooting last month insists he is innocent and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jason Hewett makes his first appearance in Knox County Superior Court via Zoom last month. Screenshot from Zoom hearing

In a phone interview Monday from Two Bridges Regional Jail, 39-year-old Jason Hewett said he was falsely accused of killing 45-year-old Kyle MacDougall of Waldoboro, and he shared court documents that reveal another potential suspect. These documents, which are sealed and inaccessible through the court system, offer conflicting accounts of MacDougall’s death and show how police say Hewett is connected to the crime.

But Hewett, who also goes by Jason Goucher, said the police investigation was sloppy and that the court documents don’t accurately explain why he is sitting in jail. At his initial appearance in Knox County Superior Court last month, Hewett’s attorney also raised concerns about conflicting statements given to police.

Hewett is facing a manslaughter charge and is one of three people arrested in connection to MacDougall’s death. He was arrested last month after a four-hour standoff with police in Augusta.

The first person arrested, 41-year-old Mark Gagne of Cushing, was accused of covering up the crime by destroying and burning the body. And John Flower, 39, of Rockland, was also arrested for allegedly hindering law enforcement’s investigation, but it’s unclear exactly how. The affidavits supporting the reasons for their arrest are still under seal.

Hewett has spent much of the last 20 years in and out of jail, according to a background check through the Maine Bureau of Investigation. His most serious charges include drug trafficking, assault, forgery, burglary, and repeatedly driving under the influence and on a suspended license. Many of his most serious charges were incurred while he was in state prison, including one of his drug charges.

“I’ve definitely had my fair share of run-ins with the law, but I’m not a murderer,” Hewett said in a phone interview Monday morning. “I’m not someone that kills people and burns the materials. … I don’t understand why some things are being written or portrayed.”

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS

The court document Hewett shared show conflicting accounts of how MacDougall died – some suggest he could have shot himself – and revealed another potential suspect who allegedly admitted to shooting MacDougall.

That man, who has not been charged in the case, told someone that he shot MacDougall and helped hide the body, according to the affidavit. But the document does not explain why police ruled him out as a suspect, or if they’re still investigating him. Spokespeople for Maine State Police and the attorney general’s office wouldn’t confirm whether the man would be charged for his alleged involvement in the death, saying they cannot comment on ongoing investigations.

Hewett said he isn’t sure if that man actually killed MacDougall, but he is frustrated that this piece of evidence was “overlooked” by law enforcement.

“All of this evidence that’s in my arrest warrant affidavit, if you put it on a scale, it doesn’t tip toward me,” Hewett said. “What’s going on right now? I’m not a paranoid person and I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but what’s the deciding factor on all of this?”

Hewett said MacDougall died during a party at Gagne’s house during the Fourth of July weekend. Hewett said he spent that weekend at Gagne’s house but didn’t really know the partygoers. He said he was asleep on the couch when he heard a gunshot. Then he saw MacDougall on the ground and pressed a towel to his neck to stop the bleeding.

According to the affidavit, multiple people accused Hewett of shooting MacDougall, but Flower, one alleged eyewitness to the crime, gave police conflicting information.

Flower first referenced MacDougall’s death as a suicide. He told detectives that when MacDougall picked up a shotgun in the room, it discharged and shot him in the neck. Hewett said in Monday’s phone interview that type of gun can fire even if the trigger wasn’t pulled.

But then Flower told later police that Hewett shot MacDougall. Multiple people interviewed by police said the same, but they didn’t share a common motive – some said MacDougall stole money, and one said MacDougall loosened the lug nuts on Hewett’s truck, which totaled it.

Flower’s attorney, Patrick Parson, said Monday that he would not comment on the investigation because Flower and his family are “deeply concerned about the rumor mill in Knox County.”

When police searched Gagne’s house days after MacDougall’s believed death, court documents show they found Gagne burning a barrel of what appeared to be skeletal remains with insulation ripped from his living room wall.