Paul Cavanaugh

Instructor

Paul joins Dirigo Safety as a career prosecutor for the State of Maine. He graduated from Skowhegan High School; UMaine (or UMO as he remembers it); and Vermont Law School. He clerked for a year in the trial courts of Vermont before returning to Maine as an Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Health and Human Services in the Bangor office. After about a year, and facing a State budget crisis leading to furloughs and shutdowns, he got a job as an Assistant District Attorney in Calais in 1993. He prosecuted in Washington County until 2015 when he joined the Augusta District Attorney’s office and after a brief stint in management he is again a front line prosecutor in the Skowhegan office.

Paul’s first jury trial was “driving deer” (he won and they paid fines). He was the first prosecutor to have the Law Court support the use of dog tracking evidence (State v. Cole, 1997 ME 112). He was the first prosecutor to have the Law Court affirm a conviction for violating a protection order when the defendant sent an email (State v. Turner, 2001 ME 44). He successfully prosecuted a couple, who took the woman’s children from South Carolina and hid them in Maine, for kidnapping (State v. Haag, 2012 ME 94). He has received awards and recognition for his prosecution of animal cruelty cases (State v. Malpher, 2008 ME 32); domestic violence cases; and has been the recipient of the Maine Warden Service Colonel’s award. He was recognized by the City of Calais as its Volunteer of the Year. He has coached soccer, basketball, hockey, track and field, field hockey and anything else his kids played.

Having gotten his Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, Paul enjoys instructing law enforcement officers and prosecutors. He has taught classes at the National District Attorney’s Association National Advocacy Center. He is a frequent presenter at the annual training of the Maine Prosecutors Association. He is qualified as a forensic interviewer in the Child Advocacy Center protocols. He teaches as often as he can at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

Instructor For

Education

  • Vermont Law School

Expertise

  • Prosecution
  • Education
  • Forensic Interview

The Dirigo Safety Newsletter