ROCKLAND, Maine — The district attorney said Friday he hasn’t decided yet whether charges would be filed against a 67-year-old wheelchair-bound man who shot an alleged intruder in his apartment in August.
District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau issued a news release in reaction to a statement made in a lawsuit filed earlier this week by Harvey Lembo, who seeks to prevent the owner of Park Place apartments and its management company from evicting him or prohibiting him from having a gun.
The statement that irked Rushlau indicated that Lembo had been informed by the district attorney’s office that he would not be charged for shooting the intruder.
“This statement is not accurate,” Rushlau countered in his release. “The matter is still being reviewed, and no one from the District Attorney’s office has made such a statement to Mr. Lembo or to anyone representing Mr. Lembo. This appears to be a miscommunication between Mr. Lembo and the attorney who filed the lawsuit.”
The district attorney said the Rockland Police Department investigation of the events of Aug. 31 was comprehensive but that his office has requested some additional information.
“The matter remains under investigation,” the prosecutor said.
Attorney Patrick Strawbridge, who is one of two attorneys representing Lembo in the civil lawsuit, said Friday that he respects that the district attorney’s office has the right to review all cases but that he expects in the end no charges will be filed against Lembo.
Lembo said in a Sept. 1 interview with the Bangor Daily News that he had purchased a 7 mm Russian-made revolver the day before the shooting because he had been the victim of four prior burglaries in the six years he had lived in an apartment at Park Place. In those instances, his medications and money had been taken.
In that interview, Lembo said he was awoken on the night of Aug. 31 by a sound in his apartment and saw a shadow pass by his kitchen into the living room. Lembo took the gun, which he had under his pillow, and confronted the intruder, who was rifling through his medications, he said.
Lembo said he ordered the man to sit down, which he did initially, but then the man got up and tried to flee and Lembo fired a shot, which struck the man in the shoulder.
The suspect, Christopher Wildhaber, 45, of Rockland, was caught by police in the woods near the Park Street residence a short time after the confrontation.
Wildhaber initially was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport but was transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was treated for his wound before being taken to jail.
Wildhaber has been charged with burglary, theft of medication, attempted theft and three counts of refusing to submit to arrest. He has been held at the Knox County Jail in Rockland since his arrest.
Wildhaber is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 18, where a trial date may be set.
Lembo has received the support of numerous groups including the National Rifle Association in his legal fight to be able to have a gun in his residence.
“Self-defense is a fundamental, God-given right that belongs to every law-abiding American — no matter their tax bracket, zip code or street address,” NRA Maine State Liaison John Hohenwarter said in a press release issued Monday in coordination with the filing of the civil lawsuit. “Furthermore, Article 1 Section 16 of the Maine Constitution echoes this sentiment by stating: ‘Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.’”
As for shooting an intruder in one’s home, state law outlines when it is permissible to use deadly force in defense of premises. The law states: “A person in possession or control of a dwelling place or a person who is licensed or privileged to be therein is justified in using deadly force upon another person: When the person reasonably believes that deadly force is necessary to prevent or terminate the commission of a criminal trespass by such other person, who the person reasonably believes: Has entered or is attempting to enter the dwelling place or has surreptitiously remained within the dwelling place without a license or privilege to do so; and is committing or is likely to commit some other crime within the dwelling place.”
The law further states: “A person may use deadly force under subsection 3, paragraph B only if the person first demands the person against whom such deadly force is to be used to terminate the criminal trespass and the trespasser fails to immediately comply with the demand, unless the person reasonably believes that it would be dangerous to the person or a 3rd person to make the demand.”