ROCKLAND, Maine — A Friendship woman was arrested Tuesday night and charged with failing to appear before a grand jury to testify against a man accused of assaulting her.
Carrie Emerson, 37, was arrested by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant charging her with failure to appear as subpoenaed and with violating a condition of bail that had been imposed for a previous unrelated case.
District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau acknowledged it is not common to charge a victim in a case.
“If there is complete disregard for the law, we have no other choice. This was not done happily,” the district attorney said.
Emerson was issued the subpoena to appear before the Knox County Grand Jury on Dec. 16. Before she was subpoenaed, Emerson had left a message on the victim witness advocate’s voicemail, telling her she would not testify. The advocate’s subsequent efforts to reach Emerson were not successful, according to the affidavit filed by police in court.
At the time, Emerson was on bail on a previous possession of suboxone charge.
Emerson was the alleged victim in a domestic assault that occurred June 26 in Friendship, according to a police affidavit filed earlier this year.
Gregory S. Prior, 44, was arrested about a week later on charges of burglary, aggravated criminal trespass, domestic violence assault and criminal mischief. Police had been looking for him since the alleged crimes occurred.
Emerson told police that Prior, whom she had been dating, had been trying to call her throughout the day while she was out and she had not returned his calls, according to the affidavit. When she arrived home, she said, Prior jumped out of the bushes and punched her in the face and then punctured all four of the tires on her vehicle.
The deputy said the woman had a black-and-blue swollen eye when he arrived. Her living room also had been trashed by Prior, police reported.
The case against Prior remains active, and he is scheduled to make his next court appearance in January.
Emerson made her initial appearance on the new charges Wednesday afternoon in Knox County Unified Court. Judge Susan Sparaco agreed to a request by defense attorney for the day William Pagnano to set the new bail at $500 cash.
Emerson pleaded not guilty to the latest offenses.
Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody had asked that Emerson be held without bail on the state’s motion to revoke her bail on the previous drug charge. He pointed out that she was convicted of the same offense in 2011 and has other prior convictions, including an assault in 2007.