PORTLAND, Maine — A Millinocket father and son must begin serving their sentences for their convictions on perjury charges within the next three days after the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday rejected their appeals.
Jeffrey P. Wyman, 60, was found guilty in May 2014 of four counts of perjury at the end of a three-day jury trial at the Penobscot Judicial Center, according to R. Christopher Almy, who prosecuted the case last year. In the same trial, David M. Wyman, 27, was found guilty on three counts of perjury and not guilty on one count of perjury.
The father was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, according to a previously published report. The son was sentenced to five days in jail and $500. Both were sentenced a year ago but their sentences were stayed pending their appeals.
Both men appealed their convictions to the Maine Supreme Court. Oral arguments were on Oct. 8 at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln.
Justice Joseph Jabar, who wrote the opinions for the court, said that Superior Court Justice William Anderson properly admitted evidence at the Wyman joint trial.
The perjury charge stemmed from a January 2012 jury trial when
Jeffrey Wyman was found not guilty of operating while under the influence of intoxicants, according to a previously published report. The drunken driving charge stemmed from an April 20, 2011, incident when an off-duty Lincoln police officer saw the elder Wyman drive off the road during a snowstorm about noon. The officer reported that a car had left the road but the officer did not stop.
District Attorney Almy said last year that after the first trial, Maine State Police Trooper Christopher Foxworthy was convinced the Wymans had perjured themselves. The trooper found an eyewitness who saw Jeffrey Wyman leave the road at 12:01 p.m., not 2 1/2 hours earlier as Wyman had testified. The state also produced phone records at the second trial that showed David Wyman called for a tow truck at 12:05 p.m., not the earlier time he testified to at the first trial, Almy said.
Both men faced up to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 on the perjury convictions.