BANGOR, Maine — A Millinocket man accused of beating his 76-year-old wife with his fists so badly last week that she now is blind in one eye made his first court appearance Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Stanley Doyle, 69, is charged with one count each aggravated assault, a Class B crime, and domestic violence assault, a Class D crime.
Maine District Court Judge John Lucy set bail at $50,000 cash.
Doyle remained Monday night at the Penobscot County Jail.
Doyle is next scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 8.
He told the judge through Devon DeMarco, acting as lawyer of the day, that he could afford no more than $5,000 cash bail or a surety bail of $40,000, the value of his home.
Doyle’s wife was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to a Boston hospital for treatment, Stephen Burlock, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, told the judge. The prosecutor said that when police arrived about 9:40 p.m. Friday, the woman’s face was “covered in blood and her right eye was not visible.”
The defendant has a long criminal history, including a conviction for voluntary manslaughter in 1970 in Boise, Idaho, according to the Bangor Daily News archives. He served eight years of a 10-year sentence in that state for killing his younger brother.
In November 2000, Doyle was sentenced to 15 years with all but 10 suspended for terrorizing a Millinocket neighborhood the previous year. He pleaded guilty to a plethora of charges, including criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and assault, stemming from a Nov. 13, 1999, incident during which Doyle peppered his Orchard Street neighborhood with gunshots. No one was injured in the incident.
Twenty to 30 people were evacuated when Doyle fired about 20 gunshots from his home, according to the BDN archives. The Maine State Police tactical team spent several hours trying to convince Doyle to surrender. Eventually police fired tear gas into his home and found him unconscious when they entered the building about two hours later, ending the seven-hour standoff.
Charles W. Hodsdon III, the Bangor lawyer who represented Doyle at his sentencing in 2000, told the court that the incident in 1999 was the result of Doyle’s ceasing to take medication for a mental health issue about a week before the altercation and that he had been drinking before the standoff took place.
Burlock on Monday told the judge that Doyle’s wife told Millinocket police that her husband was intoxicated Friday night.
If convicted in connection with the attack on his wife, Doyle faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.