Staff Writer 

A Skowhegan man is expected to be arraigned this week to face a manslaughter charge in the death last month of his friend from South Portland.

Bruce Lavallee-Davidson, 50, turned himself Tuesday to the Cumberland County jail. Just four days earlier, the Cumberland County Grand Jury handed down an indictment for manslaughter in the case of 50-year-old Fred Wilson, an independent computer programmer who was found dead in the basement his Henry Street home. 

The charge comes three weeks after Wilson died in his basement from what State Police Spokesman Steve McCausland called “a shooting death.” McCausland said Lavallee-Davidson was a “friend” of  Wilson’s.

While police are not releasing how Wilson was shot, Maine Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said the indictment is directly related to the “reckless handling of a firearm.”

School board minutes for Maine School Administrative District 48 list Lavallee-Davidson as the Technical Coordinator for Sebasticook Valley and Somerset Valley Middle schools from 2005 to 2008. In Skowhegan, Lavallee-Davidson works at the Stonewall Farm and Garden company; according to the company’s Web site, he and his partner moved from California to Maine in 1992.

Stokes would not discuss details of the case, but said the manslaughter charge means the grand jury believes Wilson’s death was not intentional. 

“This is not a murder indictment,” he said. “A murder is when you intend to kill. It really depends on your state of mind. Not every death is a criminal matter.”

Stokes said lawful homicides can include deaths resulting from self-defense.

“We’re not going to subject somebody to a trial when the evidence is clear,” he said. 

Lavallee-Davidson was released Tuesday on $10,000 bail. 

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.