BY BETTY ADAMS

Staff Writer

A judge Tuesday set bail in a sex case previously resulting in a guilty verdict that sent the defendant to jail for 31 months.

Now, the prosecution starts anew.

Denny M. Collyer, 37, of Augusta, is free on $5,000 unsecured bail on two charges of unlawful sexual contact -- both involving the same boy, who was between 8 and 9 years old.

The 2005 indictment by a grand jury in Kennebec County Superior Court says the offenses occurred between July 1, 2001, and Sept. 12, 2003, in Augusta. Collyer has maintained he is not guilty.

The boy sat with nine other family members in court Tuesday to watch the short bail hearing. They'd been there before, during other hearings in the case; at trial, which took place in June 2006; and at the Feb. 5, 2007, sentencing.

Justice Nancy Mills, who presided over the trial, had granted a motion for postconviction review. On Oct. 28, Mills vacated Collyer's sentence of five years, all but three years suspended and four years' probation. Collyer thus was also removed from the state's Internet listing of convicted sex offenders.

Preconviction bail conditions now ban Collyer from contact with the victim named in the indictment and with children younger than 18 unless there is adult supervision.

The Kennebec Journal does not identify victims of alleged sex offenses. However, the boy, now 17, allowed his mother, Cheryl Vaillancourt, and stepmother, Lorana Laliberte, both of Sidney, to be interviewed and named.

"He worries about Denny hurting other kids," Laliberte said. "That was the whole reason he was willing to go to court the first time."

On the courthouse steps, Vaillancourt said the news that Collyer's conviction was overturned made her physically ill.

"I couldn't breathe," she said. "I was crying uncontrollably. I just can't understand how people who are convicted can have so many rights."

Daniel Skolnik, who represents Collyer, said the process is painful for his client, as well.

Collyer said earlier that defending himself on these charges has caused him severe financial hardship and the loss by foreclosure of a Fairfield home.

Deputy District Attorney Alan Kelley said the case could go to trial as early as January 2010. The prosecutor has said the state will not seek more jail time if Collyer is convicted again.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com