ROCKLAND, Maine — The Matinicus lobsterman who was shot in the neck last summer told a Knox County jury Monday that he was angry but unarmed when he got into a confrontation over trap cutting with Edwin Vance Bunker and his daughter Janan Miller on the town dock.
Bunker, 68, of Matinicus and Owls Head is charged with two counts of elevated aggravated assault, criminal threatening and reckless conduct. Miller, 45, of Spruce Head is charged with reckless conduct.
Their joint jury trial began Monday at the Knox County Courthouse and is expected to conclude Wednesday or Thursday.
Injured lobsterman Christopher Young, 42, of Owls Head testified that Miller, 45, of Spruce Head appeared on the town dock the afternoon of July 20 with a shotgun. Young said that seconds after his half-brother Weston Ames, 44, of Matinicus, pushed down the barrel of her gun, Bunker pointed a revolver at Ames.
“He pointed a pistol at my brother’s head,” Young said. “He pulled the trigger and the gun went off. I heard a second shot and fell to the dock.”
Bunker’s first shot missed Ames, Young said, but the second shot struck Young in the left side of his neck. Young said that he has limited use of his left arm and hand but is slowly regaining strength through physical therapy. He said that he hopes to return to lobstering someday but now is unable to work in the profession.
In testimony Monday, Young admitted that on the morning of July 20, he boarded Bunker’s boat without permission and got into a “wrestling kind of match” with the older man. It ended when Bunker sprayed Young in the face with pepper spray.
Young told jurors he wanted Bunker to admit that Bunker and his son-in-law Alan Miller of Spruce Head, had cut lines to about 170 of Young’s lobster traps and to about 240 of Ames’ trap lines.
“I asked him why he would cut my traps,” Young told the jury. “He asked me how I knew it was him.”
Young admitted that he had no evidence Bunker or his son-in-law had cut the traps.
“It was just a suspicion,” Young said.
The confrontation over the shotgun was overheard but not seen by Marine Patrol Officer Wesley Dean. He was called on his day off to investigate reports of trap cutting off Matinicus. Dean testified Monday that the situation appeared to be “urgent.”
After meeting with other law enforcement officials in Rockland, Dean headed to Matinicus, where he met Alan Miller, who had complained the previous week that his traps had been cut. Dean got on Miller’s boat and hid in the wheelhouse as it headed for the town dock. He said he was hoping to hear any threats made between Miller and other fisherman.
Dean testified that after the boat docked, he heard Young accuse Alan Miller of cutting Young’s gear. Dean testified that he went onto the wharf from the wheelhouse of the boat after he heard Alan Miller say, “’You’d better get up here.’”
The marine patrol officer also told the jury that he heard two gunshots as he was getting onto the wharf but that his view was blocked by the lobster traps stacked on the wharf. He said that when he was able to see what was happening, Ames was holding a T-shirt to Young’s neck.
He also said he saw Bunker holding a revolver and Janan Miller holding a shotgun. When he ordered Bunker to drop the gun, Bunker complied, Dean said.
In their opening statements Monday, attorneys described the case for the jury in very different terms.
Defense attorney Philip Cohen of Waldoboro said that his client shot Young with a revolver in order to protect himself and his family.
“When he fired those shots he had a reasonable belief that he had to,” Cohen said.
Miller’s attorney, William Avantaggio of Damariscotta did not make an opening statement but could make one later in the trial. Avantaggio handled the cross-examination of witnesses on Monday.
The shooting incident was the culmination of an ongoing argument about territory and trap cutting, Knox County District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said in his opening statement.
“This case is about the use, or rather misuse, of firearms,” Rushlau said. “[Bunker and Janan Miller] chose to bring those loaded firearms into an argument.”
Although a Superior Court case, the trial is being held in the recently completed District Court courtroom instead of a courtroom in the 136-year-old Knox County Courthouse to accommodate a juror in a wheelchair. The courtroom in the older building, where jury trials usually are held, is not handicapped accessible.
Bunker remains free on $125,000 bail but is banned from Matinicus. His daughter is free on $5,000 unsecured bail.
If convicted of the most serious charge, elevated aggravated assault, Bunker faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. He has no criminal record, according to his attorney.
Janan Miller, if convicted, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The trial is scheduled to continue today with the testimony of Ames and Young’s physician.
Bangor Daily News writer Heather Steeves contributed to this report.