ELLSWORTH, Maine — A local lawyer has been charged with assault after he allegedly got into an altercation with the boyfriend of a client.
Chris Whalley was charged with simple assault in connection with the incident, which happened Friday, Oct. 17, according to the Ellsworth Police Department. The incident occurred as Whalley was conferring with his client and her boyfriend in a small conference room at the Hancock County Courthouse.
Ellsworth police Lt. Harold Page said Monday that he did not have much information about the incident. He said the initial account he has seen from the investigating officer indicates that Whalley is accused of punching a man in the mouth. Page said he did not know what prompted the alleged altercation.
Contacted Monday by email, Whalley said that the accusation is not true. He attributed the incident to “another day in the trenches” of doing court-appointed criminal defense work for the indigent.
Whalley acknowledged that his accuser is the significant other of one of his clients, whom he did not identify.
“The charges are a complete fiction, and the investigation together with credible corroborating witnesses [will bear] that out,” Whalley said in the email.
Whalley did not indicate whether he has hired another attorney to represent him on the assault charge. He is due to appear in court on the charge on Dec. 16, according to Ellsworth police.
