Suspect in killing of Maine millionaire in Maryland found incompetent for trial

POTOMAC, Maryland (WGME) — The man accused of killing a Maine millionaire at a Maryland senior living facility has been found not competent to stand trial.

Twenty-two-year-old Maurquise James of Baltimore is accused of killing 87-year-old Robert Fuller on February 14 inside his apartment at Cogir Assisted Living in Potomac, Maryland, where James worked as one of Fuller’s caregivers.

He was arrested by police after a separate incident, where he shot at a Maryland State Trooper during a traffic stop just 10 days after allegedly killing Fuller.

According to WJLA, a judge ruled James is incompetent and “dangerous,” ordering him held in a psychiatric facility until his next evaluation in November.

While the criminal case moves forward, questions remain about what facility leaders knew before Fuller’s death.

The family of Fuller’s longtime partner, Linda Buttrick, has filed a civil lawsuit claiming management ignored repeated warnings about James’ behavior.

According to WJLA, Buttrick and Fuller lived together at the Cogir senior living facility. She was inside their apartment when Fuller was fatally shot, allegedly by James , who was a Cogir Medicine Technician.

The lawsuit alleges James’ mother — a senior director at the facility — suppressed complaints and retaliated against staff who raised concerns, including firing a nurse who documented issues with James just 11 days before the killing.

Cogir Potomac Senior Living (WJLA)

In the days following the killing, multiple employees — and Buttrick herself — identified James to police as a possible suspect or person of interest, according to the filing. Despite that, the lawsuit said Cogir continued assigning him as Buttrick’s medication technician and sent him alone into the apartment where Fuller had been killed.

“Buttrick, who has Parkinson’s disease and had just discovered her partner’s body, was required to receive medications from the hands of the man she identified to police as a suspect,” the complaint states. “She was alone in her home, which was still a crime scene, with zero protection and no recourse.”

The lawsuit seeks to hold Cogir accountable for what it describes as “violations of Ms. Buttrick’s safety and dignity” and an “institutional disregard for resident welfare” that the family believes contributed to Fuller’s death.

Cogir of Potomac did not immediately respond to WJLA’s request for comment.

Fuller practiced law in Maine for more than 35 years, was a senior officer in the Naval Reserve, and authored the murder mystery novel “Unnatural Deaths,” published in 2009.

His philanthropy included contributions to many institutions in the Augusta area, including a $1.64 million gift in 2021 to modernize Cony High School’s Alumni Field complex, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Robert Fuller Jr., a Maine lawyer and philanthropist, was shot to death at a senior living facility in Maryland on Saturday. He was 87. (WJLA)

The BDN reports he was a descendant of Supreme Court Chief Justice Melville Fuller, who served from 1888 to 1910 and notably voted to uphold the “separate but equal” decision in the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson.

Fuller commissioned a statue of his ancestor in 2013 that was installed in front of the old Kennebec County courthouse in Augusta. However, the BDN reports the statue became controversial after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the scrutiny that followed of the county’s history of racial injustice. Fuller agreed to take the statue back and pay for its removal.

Fuller had reportedly moved to the Washington D.C. area to be closer to family before moving into the senior living facility.

Ethan Andrews with the Bangor Daily News and WJLA contributed to this report.