SCARBOROUGH, Maine — The man convicted of trying to kill his wife by pushing her off 700-foot high Maiden Cliff in Camden is arguing that the trial judge erred by not moving the case outside of Knox County as requested by his attorney.
The attorney for Charles Black is arguing that because of extensive publicity in the area, Black could not get a fair trial in Knox County. He also is arguing that there was insufficient evidence to convict Black.
An appeal filed on behalf of Black will be heard by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Thursday, Oct. 8, at Scarborough High School. The high court holds some sessions at schools across the state to educate students about the legal system.
A jury of 11 women and one man convicted Black of attempted murder and multiple counts of elevated aggravated assault after a five-day trial in July 2014 in Knox County Superior Court. He was sentenced in September 2014 to 25 years in prison with all but 10 years suspended.
The events that led to the charges and conviction occurred on April 7, 2011, atop Maiden Cliff where Black and his now ex-wife went to have a picnic. Lisa Zahn testified that her husband picked up a rock and struck her from behind and then dragged her to the edge of the cliff and pushed her off. She landed on a ledge not far from the top and was able to escape.
Black, however, fell while trying to get to her and was seriously injured when he struck another ledge, according to police. After Zahn made it down the mountain, she alerted a passing motorist. Rescuers later found Black who was hospitalized at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor before being charged.
The district attorney’s office argued during the trial that Black attempted to kill his wife in order to get a $4 million inheritance she had received. The prosecution also pointed out that Black, now 72, had begun a cross-country affair with a former high school sweetheart.
Black is being represented on his appeal by attorney Steven Peterson of Rockport. Walter McKee had represented Black during the trial. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald will present the state’s arguments at the scheduled October appeal.
The appeal on behalf of Black is based on what the defense claims were two errors by trial judge Justice Joyce Wheeler. One was the rejection of the defense’s request for the trial be moved outside Knox County because of the extensive pretrial publicity. The defense also is arguing that there was insufficient evidence for a jury to convict.
“It is clear that the newspaper coverage was so extensive that it created prejudice against the appellant in the Knox County area. The court has stated that a due process violation occurs when the surrounding publicity is extensive and invidious,” the appeal filed by Peterson claims. The attorney argued that Black could not obtain a fair and impartial trial locally and should have been allowed a change of venue.
Black even referred to that aspect of his case in his first blog entry from the Maine State Prison last year. Black maintains a blog titled “Behind the Wire” that he writes and his son Erik posts for him.
“For those of you not in the know, I was recently found guilty of a serious felony. I won’t go into the details of the trial, the three and a half years of media frenzy in this part of coastal Maine, the national ‘news’ outlets such as Good Morning America, Inside Edition, or the National Enquirer or the fact that a change of venue was denied,” Black stated in the August 2014 blog entry.
In an entry just three weeks ago, Black stated: “As I enter my second year of incarceration, I am reminded that there are many types of prisons and only a few with high stone walls or triple chain link and razor wire. Other prisons are of our own making. These mental walls or fences that we construct enclose our minds, allowing no contrary or exotic thoughts to interfere with the tidy worldview we have constructed. I find myself coming face to face with this daily, as I’m sure you, the reader, does also. Both in person and in the media we are confronted with this walled-in thinking.”
In terms of the lack of evidence, Peterson argues that the lack of blood on top of the mountain and the failure of investigators to find the rock that Black is claimed to have used to strike his wife were holes in the prosecution’s case.
In addition, the defense argues that Black’s wife knew of her husband’s affair and they had agreed to go to counseling.
“Although Reed and Candice (Carter of Scottsdale, Arizona,) continued to communicate with each other, even after a brief tryst in Arizona, the affair was going nowhere. Candice was married and lived 2,000 miles away,” the appeal states.
“The state’s case is riddled with reasonable doubt and conflicts,” the defense argues, and thus, based on the evidence presented at trial, Black should not have been found guilty.
The prosecution, however, counters in its written arguments to the high court that Black’s arguments on appeal have no merit.
Fernald pointed out that Black and Carter made statements about commitment and lifelong devotion.
“The only obstacle that the appellant had was Lisa. That’s why when Lisa was hospitalized three months prior to the incident, the appellant told Candice maybe she won’t make it, that would be the easy way out,” the assistant district attorney stated in his filing with the high court.