PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine supreme court Tuesday upheld the conviction of a 50-year-old Owls Head man with a lengthy criminal record who tried to convince a witness not to testify.
Steven E. Clarke tried to get his conviction for tampering with a witness overturned because he said he had not expressly threatened the witness and the witness did not feel threatened by him.
The high court justices denied the appeal, ruling that Clarke’s contentions did not matter since “statute allows a conviction for tampering with a witness based only on Clarke’s attempt to induce the witness not to testify against him.”
A witness testified that Clarke came over to the garage where he worked and talked about how he was facing jail time if convicted of driving to endanger for spinning his tires as he left the business. The witness said Clarke suggested the witness may not have seen anything and could miss the court date for the upcoming trial.
Clarke was convicted in March 2014 of the offense and sentenced to serve 12 months in jail.
He has remained in jail since serving that sentence, however, and is being held without bail on a series of other offenses, including domestic violence assault, bail violations and a second tampering with a witness charge. He also has pending cases of aggravated criminal trespass and burglary.