A Winthrop teenager is expected to change his plea this month and plead guilty to killing his parents on Halloween morning 2016, his lawyer said Thursday.
Andrew Balcer, 19, is scheduled for a Rule 11 change of plea proceeding at the Capital Judicial Center in front of Justice Daniel Billings on Sept. 19.
Balcer previously pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with the intentional and knowing murders of Antonio and Alice Balcer, and to aggravated cruelty to animals for the death of the family’s dog.
“He will be entering guilty pleas to all charges,” Walter McKee, Balcer’s attorney, said in an email Thursday. “Sentencing will be in October, I expect.”
McKee would not say why his client was changing his plea.
Assistant Attorney General Robert “Bud” Ellis, the prosecutor, said he was aware of Balcer’s scheduled change of plea.
“That’s the arrangement,” Ellis said Thursday. “He’s to enter guilty pleas to all charges. The idea is to continue the case for a sentencing presentation.”
Ellis said there had been ongoing discussions between the prosecution and defense and that the change of plea was agreed upon in the past couple of weeks.
A 911 call brought police to the Balcer home at 10 Pine Knoll Road, where Antonio and Alice Balcer, both 47, were found stabbed to death on Oct. 31, 2016. Andrew Balcer was a month shy of his 18th birthday. He was later bound over to be treated as an adult in the criminal justice system. McKee had sought to have the case remain in the juvenile system.
Among audio recordings played at previous court hearings was one in which Balcer said, “I snapped. I don’t know why.”
Debra Baeder, chief forensic psychologist with the State Forensic Service, evaluated Balcer several times and testified at one hearing that Balcer had gender identity issues and “did not believe his parents would be supportive.”
Balcer, in a separate 911 recording played at the same hearing in October 2017, said he stabbed his mother, then stabbed his father when he woke up upon hearing his wife’s screams.
In the recording, Balcer told police his mother was hugging him in his bedroom to try to comfort him when he plunged a knife into her back. He continued to stab her as she fell onto his bed and then finally to the floor.
When his father ran into the bedroom, Balcer attacked him with the knife, and their struggle left a trail of blood to the kitchen, where Antonio Balcer died face-up on the floor.
That was how Balcer described the scene at the family’s home. The chief medical examiner testified that Alice Balcer was stabbed nine times and Antonio Balcer, 13 times.
Balcer recalled killing Lily, the family’s Chihuahua, to stop her barking that morning.
“I did not plan to stab the dog,” he said on the recording. “The dog was an unfortunate collateral damage. I had no intention of hurting any of the animals there.”
Balcer said he concocted the plan while in his room, went to the dining room about 1:30 a.m. to get his Ka-Bar knife and then went into the bedroom where his parents were sleeping.
Balcer spared his older brother, Christopher, who was downstairs and came up to investigate the noises. Christoper fled to a neighbor’s home and in an interview later said that he was unaware his brother was experiencing gender confusion or depression, and that their parents would have supported Andrew.
Police took Balcer into custody the morning of the slayings. He spent about a year at Long Creek Youth Development Center before he was moved to the Kennebec County jail after Judge Eric Walker ruled in November 2017 that it was appropriate to treat Balcer as an adult.
Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @betadams
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