A story published in the Morning Sentinel on March 8, 2008 about Justin Smith of Winslow, Maine, under the headline "Young Marine Pleads Guilty to Sex Crime" was incorrect and harmful to both Justin Smith and the Dirigo Young Marine Program. The article did not meet the newspaper's standard for publication as the article contained several errors.

The article stated that Justin S. Smith, 17, of Winslow, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex charge alleging that he sexually molested a young girl. All of those statements were incorrect. The Sentinel has been made aware that Smith never admitted to any sexual crime, was never convicted of any sexual crime, and that all sexual charges which Smith had been charged with were dismissed by the District Attorney.

Smith was charged in August, 2007 with felony sexual assault based on an allegation made by a younger girl. Charges were filed by the Winslow Police and pursued by the Kennebec County District Attorney's Office. Also in 2007, the Morning Sentinel published two articles about the charges faced by Smith. The Morning Sentinel does not name victims in sex crime stories. The mother was not named in any stories about the case because naming her would identify the daughter.

In early March of this year, the Sentinel received a telephone call from the girl's mother saying that Smith had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, a lesser crime than the felony sexual assault which he had previously been charged with.

The newspaper then called Kennebec County DA Evert Fowle who could not comment. State Law forbids public agencies from identifying juveniles charged with or convicted of only juvenile misdemeanors and public officials rarely discuss such cases with names attached. However, in reporting the March 8th article, the Sentinel did not attempt to contact the Smith family, nor did it try to reach their attorney, Jason Jabar, of Waterville.

"That's where we fell down," said Eric Conrad, Executive Editor of the Morning Sentinel. "We always need to balance our stories, to call all sides. Had we done that in this case, it's likely we would have learned that Smith never plead guilty to any sex offense and that all sex offenses he had been charged with were dismissed by the District Attorney."

Jabar contacted the newspaper on Friday, March 14, 2008 about the March 8th article and said there were significant errors in it. Jabar said that Smith was not convicted of any sex offense and all sexual charges had been dropped. Jabar sent a letter to the Morning Sentinel outlining the errors and explaining that his client was very upset about how people in the community would respond to the false statements published in this article - most notably the incorrect headline "Young Marine Pleads Guilty to Sex Crime."

To help address any damages caused to the reputations of Smith and the Dirigo Young Marines from the article's inaccuracies, the Morning Sentinel is printing this article to try and set the record straight. In addition, Conrad said the newspaper has taken other internal measures to address what happened. Conrad is planning mandatory training for reporters this summer at both the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal about journalism ethics, fairness, accuracy and libel. "We apologize to the Dirigo Young Marines Program, the Smith family, and to Justin, specifically, for what happened. This story did not meet our standards for accuracy or fairness," Conrad said.