BANGOR, Maine — A man shot in the face by police more than a year ago during a standoff at his Ellsworth home has asked a federal judge to release him on bail to receive medical treatment.
Jeffrey Paul Barnard, 51, appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Nivison.
The judge took the request under advisement and will issue a written decision in a few weeks.
Barnard was charged a year ago with being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the incident in which he was injured.
When he made his first appearance in federal court on June 20, 2014, Barnard waived his right to a detention hearing. The defendant, who was arrested June 18, 2014, the day he was released from Eastern Maine Medical Center, told Nivison on Wednesday that he did not remember agreeing to be held without bail because he was heavily medicated at the time.
Barnard testified that he has made numerous requests at the Somerset County Jail, where he is being held pending a trial, to visit a specialist to repair damage to his jaw and eye from the gunshot wound. He said the requests have not been dealt with in a timely manner.
He said that he has “a dull pounding headache 24/7” and he is on a soft diet because it is so painful for him to chew his food. Barnard said that before he was shot, he qualified for Medicaid and his health care needs had been adequately addressed by MaineCare.
Barnard said he wanted to live with his wife, Vicki Barnard, in Cherryfield and agreed to electronic monitoring and testing for marijuana, which in the past he has used medicinally.
The U.S. attorney’s office and the Office of Probation and Pretrial Services have recommended Barnard continue to be detained.
Barnard was shot in the face by Maine State Police Trooper Scott Duff on the morning of June 1, 2014, after a lengthy standoff with police that included Barnard holding a .22-caliber rifle, threatening to blow up his camper with a can of gasoline and throwing a Molotov cocktail-type explosive device, Ellsworth police Lt. Harold Page said last June.
The Maine attorney general’s office late last year found the shooting justified. Barnard’s wife has disputed the officers’ descriptions of events.
The standoff was precipitated when police issued a criminal threatening summons to Barnard on May 30 and served him with a protection order as the result of a dispute Barnard was having with his landlord, Page has said.
If convicted, Barnard faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Bangor Daily News reporter Bill Trotter contributed to this story.