ROCKLAND, Maine — A 34-year-old Washington man who severely beat a woman in 2009 was sentenced Wednesday to serve an additional three years behind bars for a series of probation violations, including having contact with the victim.
Justice Daniel Billings agreed with the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald and fully revoked the probation of Brent G. Pitcher during a hearing in Knox County Superior Court. This action means Pitcher will go back to prison for three years.
Pitcher had been convicted of aggravated assault and criminal restraint for an incident in August 2009 when he beat the woman severely, causing head injuries and three broken ribs. The woman had to be flown by a LifeFlight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston as a result of those injuries. He was sentenced to eight years in prison with all but five years suspended and was placed on probation for three years.
The prosecutor asked for a full revocation of probation because Pitcher had contacted the victim repeatedly, was not reporting to his probation officer, and had not completed counseling.
Pitcher had been released from prison in October 2013 and began making calls to the victim in June.
Pitcher had a prior conviction for criminal threatening, terrorizing, reckless conduct, and obstructing the report of a crime in which the same woman was the victim.
Pitcher was acquitted by a Knox County jury in January 2007 on an assault charge against another Washington man, a 2005 incident that left the other man in a long-term vegetative state. Testimony at the trial stated that the other man started the fight which led to his injuries.