tagged w/ Bangor
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Roxanne Jeskey, 48, enters the courtroom at Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor for her initial appearance Friday, June 24, 2011.
BANGOR, Maine — Her voice barely audible in the large first-floor courtroom, the local woman accused of brutally slaying her husband in June pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge during a brief hearing at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Roxanne M. Jeskey, 48, was indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury in July on a charge of intentional or knowing murder or depraved indifference murder in the death of her husband, Richard Jeskey, 53.
Dressed in dark blue jail clothes, the accused killer appeared to have lost weight since her first court appearance after her arrest in June.
A trial date has not been set, but it usually takes at least a year for a murder case to be tried.
District Court Judge Bruce Jordan ordered Thursday that the defendant continue to be held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail. The issue of bail could be revisited at a later date, he said.
Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, who is prosecuting the case, said after the hearing that she has filed a motion asking that Jeskey undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Family and friends of the victim and the defendant attended Jeskey’s arraignment but declined to speak to the news media.
On June 13, Richard Jeskey’s body was found naked and bloody in the bathtub of the couple’s home on Ohio Street.
During her initial court appearance in June, Jeskey, who is being represented by her court-appointed attorneys, Joseph Baldacci and David Bates, said she was acting in self-defense. She said she had been brutally assaulted by her husband the night he died.
Baldacci reiterated Thursday that when he first met his client, she was “covered in bruises from head to toe” and recovering from her injuries at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor.
Richard Jeskey was beaten and strangled by his wife in a fit of jealousy, according to Bangor police who investigated his death. When officers went to the couple’s home on June 13, Richard Jeskey’s body showed signs of trauma to his groin, upper torso, face and head, according to a police affidavit filed at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
The results of an autopsy conducted June 14 at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta showed that he suffered extensive multiple blunt- and sharp-force injuries to the head, neck, torso and limbs.
Jeskey admitted that she and her husband had a fight the night of June 12 into the early morning hours of June 13 because of a phone call between her husband and his ex-girlfriend, according to court documents. She admitted that she assaulted her husband “with various weapons including pliers, a box cutter and a plastic baseball bat.”
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/08/news/bangor/bangor-woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-killing-husband-in-june/Roxanne Jeskey, 48, enters the courtroom at Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor for... more
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BANGOR, Maine — A man who friends say tried to slit his own throat with a knife when he was arrested by police Wednesday has been ordered to be held in custody until federal officials can determine the extent to which he has violated his probation.
Jeffrey P. Barnard, 47, who has clashed with federal officials over his use of medical marijuana, was pushed in a wheelchair into U.S. District Court in Bangor on Friday morning. He was in court for a brief hearing on whether he wanted to continue being represented by defense attorney Marvin Glazier. Scratches were visible on Barnard’s neck and forehead, which his wife said stems from his arrest Wednesday in Machias, as he told Judge John Woodcock that he was scared of going back to jail.
“You threatened to throw me in a [jail] cell forever,” Barnard said, referring to a previous hearing. “I was scared.”
Woodcock clarified his prior comments to Barnard, saying he had neither the power nor inclination to sentence Barnard to life in prison.
After talking privately for a few minutes with Glazier during Friday’s hearing, Barnard told Woodcock he wanted to keep Glazier as his defense attorney.
At issue is Barnard’s repeated use of marijuana while on federal probation — which Barnard has admitted to doing — and whether he violated his probation last year when he failed to return in a timely manner after being temporarily released from custody to receive medical treatment, according to court documents.
According to Barnard’s wife, Vicki Barnard, her husband was arrested Wednesday as he was hobbling on crutches through a Machias parking lot immediately following a doctor’s appointment. He scuffled with police officers as he attempted to slit his own throat with a knife during the arrest, she said, because he is fearful of going back to jail, where his life has been threatened multiple times.
Barnard said her husband has stitches all the way across the front of his neck from his suicide attempt.
“My husband wouldn’t hurt nobody but himself,” Vicki Barnard said Friday morning outside the federal courthouse. “They just need to let him go home.”
Barnard had been scheduled to appear in federal court on April 17 for a hearing on whether Glazier would withdraw as his attorney. After Barnard failed to show up, Woodcock issued a warrant for his arrest. On Friday, Woodcock ordered that Barnard remain in federal custody until at least May 17, when officials will discuss what should be done about Barnard’s federal probation violations.
“I’m going to keep you detained, because the last time you were supposed to be here you didn’t show,” Woodcock told Barnard.
Barnard has raised the ire of federal officials over his refusal to stop smoking marijuana, which he says he does to address his myriad medical and pain problems. Barnard has been prescribed pain relief pills but claims they resulted in severe stomach pain and blood in his urine. He said he has been prescribed marijuana by his doctor and is registered with the state as an approved user of medical marijuana, which he said is more effective in addressing his pain issues.
According to Barnard, federal officials are improperly preventing him from using medical marijuana.
Federal officials have indicated that Barnard’s federal probation predates Maine’s medical marijuana law and that it explicitly prohibits him from using or possessing alcohol or drugs. Barnard tested positive for marijuana 23 times between June 4, 2009, and Dec. 22, 2009, before the state law went into effect, according to federal court documents. Last November, Barnard filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Bangor asking for permission to smoke marijuana for medical purposes, but Woodcock denied Barnard’s request.
Both Glazier and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have declined to comment on Barnard’s case outside of court appearances.
Barnard claims that several of his medical issues stem from injuries he suffered during prior arrests and during previous stints in jail. Barnard said has been labeled a snitch by jail officials and, as a result, has been threatened several times with physical harm from other inmates.
Barnard has said that in June 2010, concerns about his safety prompted him to jump from a balcony at the Cumberland County Jail to a concrete floor 17 feet below, which resulted in serious injuries to his legs. Since then, Vicki Barnard said Friday, his left leg was amputated below the knee and he has had lingering issues with his right leg.
At the end of March, police confiscated 44 marijuana plants from a home in Gouldsboro that Barnard rents with his wife, according to court documents. According to Vicki Barnard, who has not been charged in the incident, the plants were hers and she had a legal right to possess them.
Barnard said she, like her husband, is legally registered with the state as a medical marijuana user and that the plants were hers. She said state law allows such users to possess up to six flowering plants. Only six of the plants confiscated by police from the Barnards were large enough to produce medical marijuana, she said, while the rest were small enough that they do not count toward the state limit of six flowering plants.
http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/05/06/news/bangor/man-involved-in-marijuana-use-case-tries-to-slit-his-throat-during-arrest/BANGOR, Maine — A man who friends say tried to slit his own throat with a knife... more
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April 10, 2011
I've reported over the years on the problems facing our nations' abuse shelters, including funding woes, over-worked staff, loosey-goosey procedures, and even illegal conduct. But nowhere have I seen what I'm going to reveal about the Next Step, a shelter located near Bar Harbor in lobster-addled Maine...
On March 15, 2007, the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence unveiled three ambitious bills. One bill would create a new class of crimes for "domestic violence assaults." A second bill would establish a so-called "predominant aggressor" policy that would help police sort out cases of mutual abuse. And the third bill would restore $1.9 million from previous budget cuts: http://www.nextstepdvproject.org/2008-dv-legislation/
But to get political traction, the issue would need to garner loads of media coverage. And enticing media interest would require...you guessed it...flesh and blood victims.
As revealed by blog entries on its website, the Next Step staff is a politically active bunch, making frequent lobbying forays to the state capitol in Augusta. The shelter workers knew they desperately needed to find a poster child who could be paraded around so legislators could be persuaded to sign on to the proposed laws.
Problem is, victims of battering are in short supply these days. So when no victim is known to exist, the solution is obvious: fabricate one!
Following is the account of Ligia Filler, 41, a native of Guatemala and ersatz domestic violence victim. A web of police reports, judge's orders, sworn testimony, and a recent Maine Supreme Court decision forms the basis for the improbable tale I'm about to share...
Abandoned as a child, Ligia first traveled to the United States at age 17 to meet her parents for the first time. By then Ligia had developed severe psychological problems, attempting suicide several times.
In 1991 she met Vladek Filler. They married and eventually had two children. But the marital union didn't resolve the emotional torment; in fact, she repeatedly abused the children, both physically and emotionally. Once she punched Vladek in the face in front of the children.
A judge would later award custody of the children to the father, finding that "The children were victims of violence from their mother," including hitting one child "with spatulas and spoons, leaving bruises."
The children began to speak openly about wanting to avoid their mother for their own safety. In the Spring of 2007, Vladek decided he had to take necessary steps to protect the kids from the escalating abuse.
When he announced that he and the children would soon be leaving the marital residence, Ligia went into a funk that turned rageful, her abuse quickly spinning out of control.
The following day, Vladek contacted the Next Step shelter, begging for help. Not only did Next Step refuse his request, the staff mocked him. Little did he realize that the Next Step had already taken Ligia under its wing, coaching her to make allegations of domestic violence against the very victim of her long-standing abuse, Vladek Filler.
April 24 witnessed a complete break-down, with a partially dressed Ligia running in the streets, vowing to kill police officers on the scene, and accusing Vladek of child molestation and marital rape. One officer can be heard remarking the woman was "certifiable" for involuntary commitment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsKIcQhjaJg&feature=player_embedded#at=20
Regarding the child molestation claim, the Ellsworth District Court later ruled, "That allegation was false and known to be false. She has shown a capacity to manufacture claims."
But inexplicably, a marital rape accusation by an unhinged woman was viewed as credible. Vladek was arrested and charged.
Ligia was carted off to the hospital for a shrink-check. And as soon as she was released, Ligia became a god-send for the Next Step and its stalled legislative agenda.
Knowing that the Next Step was footing the legal bill, Ligia allowed herself to be persuaded to make lurid allegations of sexual violations, shamelessly amplified by the local prosecutor. "It was sexual punishment," prosecutor Mary Kellett recounted with a straight face to the Bangor Daily News. "It was punitive and angry."
Maine newspapers would eventually run 11 separate stories on the case, replete with riveting details of the alleged attack.
The facts that Ligia was a known child abuser, that there was no confirmatory medical or forensic evidence, that she refused a rape kit evaluation, that she was likely motivated by an impending custody dispute, and that Ligia was known to locals as "that crazy woman" gave little pause to the media bloodhounds.
During the trial, DA Kellett improperly withheld key exculpatory evidence, leading the Maine Supreme Court to later chastise her for prosecutorial misconduct and to remand the case for a retrial: http://www.courts.state.me.us/court_info/opinions/2010%20documents/10me90fi.pdf
The Next Step's devious ploy was successful, the political payoff incalculable. All three domestic violence bills introduced in March were enacted into law. At the ceremonial signing on July 25, 2007, Gov. John Baldacci marveled at the achievement, warning, "Too many women and children are being victimized, and each story is tragic and compelling."
Vladek Filler and his two children, victims of an abusive woman, were not in attendance. And Ligia, now divorced and estranged from her children, has yet to receive the mental health treatment she so desperately needs.
By Carey RobertsApril 10, 2011
I've reported over the years on the problems facing our... more
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This is a documentary by UM journalism student Emma Thieme, covering the first nursing strike to occur in the state of Maine. The Maine State Nurses Association voted to strike against its employer, Eastern Maine Medical Center, citing unsafe patient to nurse ratios.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6iyLzSL6BcThis is a documentary by UM journalism student Emma Thieme, covering the first nursing... more
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By Judy Harrison
BDN Staff
PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the 2007 conviction of one of the state’s most well-known proponents of medical marijuana for growing pot plants at his Madison home. The justices did not weigh in on whether the state’s medical marijuana law needs to be clarified.By Judy Harrison
BDN Staff
PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial... more
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GARY Lightbody has spoken for the first time about a bomb attack his family narrowly escaped in Northern Ireland when he was a child.
The Snow Patrol frontman said his parents only recently told him how close they were to the explosion in his home town of Bangor when he was four.
The 32-year-old has never really written about the Troubles since his teens, but new single Take Back The City is a message to Belfast.
Gary said: "My family were quite close to the bomb, but I was only four, so I was too young to remember."
He revealed his most vivid memory of growing up as a child of the Troubles is of going to school and seeing members of the British Army with rifles.
He said: "When you went to school, you were stuck behind the guys with the armoured vans and the guns.
"It reminded you every morning there's something going on and the news is a constant reminder. But, you do get on with it.
"I grew up mistrusting politicians and completely at odds with religion of any sort.
"I was always confused as to what was really going on and why it was going on. Take Back The City is saying to people in Belfast 'Take back the city for yourself and I'll take it back for me.'
"It's a European city these days with an incredible music scene that I adore."
Gary formed Snow Patrol while at Dundee University and then lived in Glasgow.
Recently he has bought a home back in Bangor to be near his family.
The band celebrate the release of their fifth album A Hundred Million Suns with a whistle-stop tour of four capital cities - Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh and London.
The tour kicked-off at lunchtime yesterday at The Gate Theatre in Dublin before a gig in Belfast last night. This afternoon they will be at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms for a midday performance before heading to London for the final show.
The new album features song Disaster Button, which is about the singer's own tendency during his 20s to all too regularly "self-destruct".
Gary said: "The Disaster Button is a switch in me that used to happen to me in my mid-20s.
"My parents and the band have all been there for me at some point in my errant times to reign me back in again.
"Now, having been in so many nourishing friendships and relationships, I have finally broken the spell of affliction.
"The Disaster Button is a reminder of how far I've come.
"I'm concerned with my memory. On many occasions I forget my own lyrics, I forget large portions of my life.
"I sometimes used to make the lyrics up onstage. These days it's kind of flattering that people sometimes carry the song for me.
"There was one time the crowd took over and I was almost in tears, it was just so moving.
"There was a feeling, people were more going 'We're all in this together.'"
Snow Patrol's A Hundred Million Suns is out today.
GARY Lightbody has spoken for the first time about a bomb attack his family narrowly... more
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