BANGOR, Maine — An 18-year-old Old Town man who allegedly struck an Orono man with a beer bottle last summer during a fight in a bowling alley parking lot will go on trial after a judge refused Wednesday to go along with a plea agreement the victim objected to.
Superior Court Justice William Anderson set jury selection in the trial of Garrytte Mikel Davis on charges of elevated aggravated assault and aggravated reckless conduct for June 7, just two days short of the first anniversary of the incident at the Old Town Bowling Lanes on Center Street.
The plea agreement would have allowed Davis to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, serve a 45-day sentence at the Penobscot County Jail and pay a $300 fine. The felony charges would have been dropped in exchange for the defendant’s guilty plea, according to Greg Campbell, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County.
Campbell did not negotiate the deal but was filling in Wednesday for a colleague.
Christopher Haskell, 30, told Anderson that he has nerve damage on the side of his face where Davis allegedly struck him with the beer bottle. The victim also said his medical bills exceeded $40,000 and that he had missed three months of work while recovering from his injuries.
“I almost died, that’s the point I’m trying to make,” Haskell said. “I said no to everything [the District Attorney’s Office] came up with.”
He said that dropping the charge from a Class A felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, to a Class D misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of a year diminished the severity of his injuries.
A juvenile also was charged in connection with the incident. He admitted stabbing Haskell twice in the abdomen and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor earlier this year, Campbell told the judge Wednesday.
State law forbids the release of juveniles’ names and sentences unless they are charged with and-or convicted of felonies.
Defense attorney Charles Budd of Bangor said that his client believed he was defending the juvenile and was not aware Haskell had been stabbed when he wielded the beer bottle.