ROCKLAND, Maine — A 50-year-old Owls Head man who has been held in jail for nearly two years while awaiting trial on a series of charges has dismissed another attorney.
The action on Tuesday in Knox County Unified Court has again delayed the trial of Steven E. Clarke. The Owls Head man was in court for jury selection on charges that include aggravated criminal trespass, burglary, domestic violence assault and tampering with a witness.
Clarke began the day represented by attorneys Lynn Madison and Philip Cohen. But Clarke told the court Tuesday that he did not feel he had enough time with Cohen and wanted a new co-counsel to represent him.
Justice Daniel Billings allowed Cohen to withdraw. This will result in Clarke’s case being postponed from September until November.
The thick court file on Clarke shows a list of attorneys who had represented Clarke on the pending charges. The first attorney listed was Evan Smith, though no reason was given in court documents for why he stopped representing Clarke.
Clarke then was represented by attorney Roger Hurley, who withdrew in January 2014 during the middle of a hearing. Hurley said he would not allow himself to degrade the judicial process, but he did not tell the court what the impasse with Clarke was.
Attorney Christopher MacLean was appointed to represent Clarke briefly but he soon withdrew, citing an unspecified conflict.
Attorney Thomas Sheehan then was appointed by the court to replace MacLean. He withdrew in May, citing breakdowns in communications with Clarke and with the attorney/client relationship.
At that point, Billings warned Clarke that while he had the right to a court-appointed attorney, he did not have the right to an unlimited number of court-appointed attorneys.
Attorney Lynn Madison was appointed to succeed Sheehan, and Cohen was appointed to be co-counsel.
Another co-counsel is expected to be appointed for Clarke.
According to police reports, Clarke was charged in May after he broke into a Cushing home, assaulted a woman, and broke a window and lamp.
Then in November, he was charged with assaulting a former girlfriend in Rockland. He also later was charged with tampering with the latest victim.
Clarke has pleaded not guilty to the offenses.
He has a lengthy criminal record that dates to 2003, when he escaped from the Knox County Courthouse while in custody on a domestic violence charge when a door to the holding room was left unlocked. He later was captured, and while in court for a bail hearing in April 2003, he attacked Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald. Clarke was convicted of assault in that case as well as another involving assault on an officer.
In October 2012, Clarke was sentenced to another nine months and one day in jail for threatening to kill a group of people in downtown Rockland.