Honorable Daniel E. Wathen, Commission Chair
Former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Wathen served as a member of Maine’s judiciary for more than twenty-five years. Wathen was first appointed to the Maine Superior Court by Governor Longley (I) in 1977 and served for four years before his appointment to Maine’s highest court by Governor Brennan (D) in 1981. Wathen was elevated to Chief Justice by Governor McKernan (R) in 1992 and served in that role until his retirement in 2001. Since 1990, Wathen has served as the Court Master to oversee the mental health consent decree.
Dr. Debra Baeder, Ph.D
Certified in forensic psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, Baedar served as Chief Forensic Psychologist for the State Forensic Service in Maine and then as the Director of Clinical Services for the Maine Office of Behavioral Health for 23 years. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology and her expertise includes evaluations of adult pre-trial defendants on issues of competence and criminal responsibility as well as evaluations of juveniles on matters pertaining to dispositional recommendations, risk assessments, competence, and waiver to criminal court. She has served on task forces, study groups, and training panels focused on domestic homicides, police use of deadly force, juvenile justice, outpatient commitment, and emergency involuntary hospitalization.
George (Toby) Dilworth
Dilworth is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maine, serving from 1991 to 2005. Drawing on more than 30 years of trial work and federal government experience, Dilworth currently represents individuals and businesses in complex criminal and civil litigation and investigations. He is also the managing director of Drummond Woodsum, which is based in Portland.
Honorable Ellen Gorman
A former Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Gorman is an accomplished jurist who was appointed to the Maine District Court by Governor John McKernan (R) in 1989, to the Maine Superior Court by Governor Angus King (I) in 2000, to the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor John Baldacci (D) in 2007, and reappointed by Governor Paul LePage (R) in 2015. Gorman served as Associate Justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for 15 years until her retirement in 2022 and previously served as Commissioner for the Workers’ Compensation Commission and as an attorney in private practice.
Dr. Anthony Ng, MD
Dr. Ng serves as Medical Director of Community Services for Northern Light Acadia Hospital in Bangor. A board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Ng has earned national recognition for his work to provide psychiatric expertise, care, and support to disaster affected communities, including in the aftermath of the crash of Flight 587 in New York City (2001), the Asian Tsunamis (2004), Hurricanes Rita and Katrina (2005), and several mass school shootings, including Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012). He is the past chair of the Coalition for Psychiatric Emergencies and the former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry. Earlier this year, the American Psychiatric Association awarded him the 2023 Bruno Lima Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the care and understanding of the victims of disasters.
Honorable Geoffrey Rushlau
Rushlau was a prosecuting attorney for 37 years, and then a District Court Judge. He was an Assistant District Attorney in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties from 1980 to 1993 and then served from 1993 to 2017 as District Attorney for Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, and Sagadahoc Counties. During his years as District Attorney, he focused on in-service training for area police departments. He also served as the legislative representative for the Maine Prosecutors Association. In that role, he testified frequently before legislative committees on bills relating to criminal law and public safety. He later became the first District Attorney to be appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The Board’s responsibilities include the enactment of training and conduct standards for law enforcement, and imposing sanctions on officers accused of violating those standards. He served on the Board until he resigned as District Attorney in 2017 upon his confirmation as a Judge of the District Court. He retired as a judge in October of 2022, after 42 years of service in the courts of this state.
Paula Silsby
Silsby served as United States Attorney for the District of Maine from 2001 to 2010. Prior to her appointment as United States Attorney, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney handling both civil and criminal cases, including stints as Senior Litigation Counsel and Chief of the office’s Criminal Division. As a government attorney, Silsby lectured within the United States Department of Justice on the topics of workplace harassment and discrimination and served as an Equal Employment Opportunity investigator. She currently serves as Counsel at McCloskey, Mina, Cunniff & Frawley in Portland.