ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Lamoine man charged with murder and other charges in connection with a shooting in March that left one man dead and two others wounded pleaded not guilty Monday to the charges in Hancock County Superior Court.
More than 30 people filled the courtroom around 1 p.m. when Michael Carter, 30, was brought in to answer to the charges. Many of the people sitting in the gallery were relatives of Lawrence “Randy” Sinclair Jr., who died in the March 11 shooting outside Carter’s home on Route 184. Some wore buttons with a photograph of Sinclair on their clothing as they watched Carter come in.
Also injured in the shooting, which happened around 4:30 a.m. on a Sunday, were Torrey Garland, 34, and Joshua McKinney, 25, both of Ellsworth.
The courtroom went silent, with only the sound of the chains on Carter’s leg shackles rattling as he walked, when two Maine State Police troopers escorted him into the courtroom and to the defense table. Carter, who according to friends of Sinclair accidentally shot himself during the March incident, showed no signs of injury as he moved through the courtroom.
Carter, wearing handcuffs and jail-issued clothing, entered not-guilty pleas to charges of murder, elevated aggravated assault, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
After Carter said “not guilty” four times, Justice Ann Murray scheduled a bail hearing for Carter at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 13. The brief arraignment then abruptly adjourned and Carter was taken back to Hancock County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest Friday, the day after he was indicted by a Hancock County grand jury.
Relatives of Sinclair made brief statements to the media after the arraignment. Lawrence “Randy” Sinclair Sr., the dead man’s father, called Carter a “dirtbag” and an expletive.
“I hope he rots in hell. … He doesn’t deserve bail. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the air we’re breathing,” Sinclair said in a courthouse stairwell after the arraignment.
Sinclair repeated what members and friends of his family have been saying since the incident — that the men who were shot were invited to Carter’s home and had no idea they were about to be attacked. The men went to Carter’s home ostensibly to talk about a paint job Sinclair had done on Carter’s pickup truck which Carter was not happy with, friends of Sinclair have said.
Outside the courthouse, Sinclair’s sister Lori Rowley said her brother was an innocent victim and did nothing to provoke the shooting.
“Randy was a wonderful person,” she said. “He would never hurt anybody.”
Near where Rowley spoke were two pickup trucks parked in front of the courthouse with the message “RIP Randy” painted in their rear-view windows. Another said “Maine needs xpress [sic] lane 2 death row.”
Some relatives of Sinclair, including his sister and father, said that up until his arrest on Friday, Carter had been doing things to upset Sinclair’s family and friends. They declined to go into detail about Carter’s alleged behavior.
Carter’s family declined to speak to reporters after the arraignment.
Carter’s defense attorney, Richard Hartley of Bangor, said after the arraignment that the only documentation he has seen so far from the investigation is a copy of last Thursday’s indictment of his client. He said he met with Carter’s family months ago to discuss the possibility of representing Carter, but that he has not yet spent time going over statements and evidence gathered in the case.
“We don’t have any of the information behind the charge,” Hartley said.
The assistant attorney general who represented the prosecution during Monday’s arraignment, Deb Cashman, left the courthouse after the arraignment without making a statement to reporters.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
Where can I get one of those buttons?
Yeah, I’d like one too!
where can i get somthing for the back of my car that says maine needs a rope and a noose penalty for certin things?
I’m guessing the home invading crew will have a tough time keeping their stories straight during the trial (especially since the truth will exonerate the charged) so I’m going with “not guilty”
well their stories must be pretty straight since the shooter was arrested and it took 3 months to make a strong case…. just sayin…. but you few haters can’t bring us down, we know justice will be served it might take awhile, but it’ll come….and all you haters will still say it’s wrong when he’s proven guilty in a court of law!!
Well, look at it this way, anyone with common sense enough to look at the video images of the State police investigation would already know that this was not any type of home invasion. And if the read the reports they would also know that only one of those boys were even near the house. Also the video shows a little distance between the house and the road, however the young man that died was in his vehicle down by the road. hmmmm….interesting when you read through the facts listed by State Police investigators. Who I am fairly sure know how to do their job.
Where did you read all this? I’d really like to look at it myself!
It was here on the BDN jemileesmom, just look into the archives, after the initial investigation (I think a week or so) the SP released that Sinclair was shot while sitting in the van.
Thanks. I must have missed that! I don’t know any of them personally, but having worked retail for YEARS in Ellsworth, I recognized most of those involved. I followed the stories pretty close, but not close enough I guess!
The Ellsworth American Fenceviewer had an update on that too a while back, but that site is terrible to try to view articles :(
Hi Jemileesmom, Its all over the internet..Police investigation videos have been shown online since the day of the incident. Wasnt there, cant tell you any other details other than the ones that the State Police Videos have shown or reports by news/newspaper which have been in ample supply over this case.
Thanks. I was half asleep when I read your comment last night. I thought you had read some official State Police Report, rather than newspaper articles with reports by the State Police. I’ve read everything in the newspaper/online articles, but I have not watched the videos. I will go back and watch the videos later!
I agree to all except the term “boys” there were all grown men!
It didn’t help any that Sinclair’s brother lied about what happened if he had just come forth and said his brother was shot point blank in the van an arrest would have been made sooner. In my opinion none of the people involved were outstanding citizens, but nobody deserved to lose their life! There is no going back for a do over here!
I guess we will see when the trial is over and the jury states what the verdict is wont we.
Randy’s mom is wearing the pin and she has every right it was her son that died give her a brake !!!!
Brakes are important…
Who is giving her a hard time for wearing a pin? I see two comments in reference to the pins (one of which was mine), both asking where they can get one.
So, he is going to say the gf pulled the trigger of both the shot gun and the pistol at the same time? Thus making him not guilty of killing some one? Interesting, and if he gets out of jail then the gf goes to jail for life.
Downeasta, There was only one weapon, a 9 mm handgun. Not sure where the shotgun information came from. But there was only one.
He was just a good boy who jumped in a car with a bunch of guys to go settle a dispute at 4:30am….RIGHT?! Hes just an innocent victim. lol
“Randy Sinclair has a 2002 conviction on an assault charge in Ellsworth, state records indicate, and according to federal court documents he was sentenced in 2002 to serve a year and a day in prison after breaking into the Ellsworth Post Office in 2001.”
But he would never hurt anybody except for the people he assaulted and robbed.