Misinformation on crime details not unusual in some cases, police spokesman says

Detectives take out an evidence bag the day after the shooting. (Portland Press Herald photo) inset, Mike Burns.

A Maine State Police spokesman today said that inaccurate details initially released by police in the death of a Rochester man in Saco last September were the result of intentional disinformation given to the media in the early stages of the investigation as police sought to determine whether a crime had been committed and by whom.

Stephen McCausland said police sometimes limit information early in an investigation while they are doing initial interviews and fact finding.

But it wasn't until two weeks ago in a story first reported in The Rochester Voice that State Police finally released that 54-year-old Mike Burns, a beloved Boy Scout troop leader and self-employed computer technician, was shot three times, not once, as first reported after an autopsy was conducted just days after his death on Sept. 30.

Results of the autopsy report stated Burns died of a single gunshot wound to the head, but on Sept. 11 McCausland noted that Burns had been shot three times, twice in the torso and once in the head.

State Police have indicated they believe Burns was shot in self-defense when he threatened the tenant of the duplex and an alleged prostitute who was there after she collected $100 from Burns but refused to have sex.

Police say Burns then went to his car, retrieved a knife and threatened the two leading to the fatal shooting.

Dover Attorney Alfred T. Catalfo is now urging State Police to reopen the case, although as early as Monday McCausland said they have no intention of doing so.

Catalfo, in a four-page statement sent to New Hampshire and Maine media outlets last week, outlined his reasoning as to why the facts in the case don't seem to add up.

Catalfo said among them is the fact that Burns appears to have been shot in the back of the head, according to one of his sons who said he saw his dad prior to burial and his face was unblemished.

Police have still not released the entry points of the head and torso wounds or the type of gun used. Catalfo said a shot to the back of the head is not consistent with a self-defense claim.

McCausland also today said he was in error when he told The Rochester Voice on Sept. 11 that there were only the tenant and the alleged prostitute at 26 Nye St. the night of Burns' shooting instead of confirming the presence of another man, whom Catalfo has identified as a convict and a parolee who was the man who initially told Burns to leave after he'd already paid the $100 for sex.

Catalfo said he is prepared to file a wrongful death suit against the three principals who were at the duplex that night in an effort to get to the bottom of what happened and help to provide some closure to the Burns family, who are desperate to find out more details of what transpired that fateful night almost one year ago.