BANGOR, Maine — The Amityville, New York, man charged with murder in the fatal stabbing last year of a Bangor man pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Akeem T. Harris , 25, pleaded not guilty on April 26, 2013, to intentional or knowing murder in connection with the death of Thomas N. Taylor, 30, of Bangor on April 9, 2013. Harris, who was a student at Eastern Maine Community College at the time of the stabbing, claimed he acted in self-defense.
Harris will be sentenced at a later date.
His trial on the murder charge was scheduled to be held next month in Bangor.
By pleading guilty, Harris admitted he recklessly caused Taylor’s death.
Members of the victim’s family attended Wednesday’s hearing.
In exchange for his plea, the prosecution will recommend a sentence of 18 years in prison with all but 12 suspended, followed by four years of probation, according to defense attorney Richard Hartley of Bangor.
The murder charge is expected to be dismissed when Harris is sentenced.
Taylor died of a single stab wound to the back. He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he died shortly after he was stabbed at about 6 p.m. in the parking lot of Birch Circle apartments on Ohio Street in Bangor. Witness accounts differed about what happened, according to the affidavit. One witness told police Harris and Taylor approached each other with knives.
One witness said “they stabbed back and forth, but neither appeared to be getting stabbed,” the affidavit stated. “She called it a ‘knife war.’ [The witness] told me that Taylor dropped his knife, and when that happened he picked up a child’s toy (trike or scooter) and held it up to protect himself. She said that Taylor threw the toy at Akeem. She added that Akeem then threw the toy at Taylor. She told us that Akeem was cut on the arm, and Akeem stabbed Taylor in the back.”
The affidavit said “knive(s) were found on the ground near the victim.”
Harris is a friend of the victim’s former neighbor, who previously had confrontations with Taylor, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit does not give details about what led to the dispute between the former neighbors, but it does state that Harris did not appear to be part of it.
Harris has been held without bail since he turned himself in two days after being indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury on April 24, 2013. Recently, he has been housed at the Maine State Prison in Warren, according to his attorney.
He faces up to 30 years in prison on the manslaughter charge. If convicted of murder, he would have faced between 25 years and life in prison.
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