PORTLAND, Maine — A man who was shot in 2010 along with his girlfriend, who later died of her wounds, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to a federal gun charge.
Cory Girard, 27, of Yarmouth pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of controlled substances, according to information posted on the court’s electronic case filing system.
Girard, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in November, remains free on $10,000 unsecured bond pending sentencing.
A sentencing date has not been set.
Girard’s girlfriend, Darien Richardson, a 25-year-old South Portland native who graduated from Bowdoin College, was shot while sleeping next to him in their 25 Rackleff St. home on Jan. 8, 2010, by a masked intruder or intruders, according to a previously published report. She died suddenly the following month from a blood clot resulting from the gunshot wound while visiting a friend in Florida.
Her murder is classified as a cold case.
Girard was hit by the gunfire but survived.
By pleading guilty, Girard admitted that he had been dealing large amounts of oxycodone since August 2009 between New York and Maine and using marijuana daily. The night of the shooting, he had a pistol and a loaded magazine under the mattress of the bed in which he slept, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty.
He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
BDN writer Seth Koenig contributed to this report.