A criminal case against lawyer Jonathan Hull, 73, of Newcastle could move closer to its end Feb. 28 with a conference at Lincoln County Courthouse. Assistant District Attorney A.J. Chalifour said in a phone interview Feb. 21, the parties may meet partly in open court and partly in chambers; the conference could help resolve the case or help move it toward trial, Chalifour explained.

No plea deal has been reached, Chalifour said. A phone message to Hull’s defense lawyer James Mason of Brunswick was not immediately returned. The conference’s scheduling for 11 a.m. Friday is one of the latest developments on criminal and civil fronts involving Hull since he was charged and bailed in 2018 and Maine Supreme Judicial Court suspended him as an attorney in Maine. 

Hull faces charges of forgery, theft by unauthorized taking or transfer, misuse of entrusted property, and falsifying private records. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files and court records, Hull allegedly removed and repaid thousands of dollars from the Cheseborough Program, a Bath nonprofit supporting the Bath-Tsugaru sister city and student exchange program.

In a new civil suit dated Jan. 8, Lawyers Fund for Client Protection seeks from Hull $23,889 it claims it paid past clients of his in connection with alleged dishonest conduct. A Jan. 28 answer Mason filed for Hull in connection with the complaint cites doctrines Mason claims bar the Fund’s claims; the answer also argues the Fund’s claims are barred because the alleged conduct did not cause the loss.

And Feb. 3, Lindsey Plummer of Nobleboro and sister Abigail Plummer of Camden filed a demand for a jury trial for their 2019 suit over Hull’s alleged handling of their late father Wayne Plummer’s estate. Mason’s answer to that complaint argues the statute of limitations bars the women’s claims; and, as with the defense against the Lawyers’ Fund’s complaint, maintains the alleged conduct didn’t cause the loss.