BANGOR, Maine — The jury trial of a former Washington County sheriff on misdemeanor charges is set to begin Wednesday, July 27, at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Donnie Smith, 63, of Lubec is charged with one count each of reckless conduct and driving to endanger in connection with a Jan. 6, 2015, incident in Lubec involving a woman he had previously accused of assaulting him.
Jury selection took place Friday. Three days have been set aside for the trial, which will be presided over by Superior Court Justice William Anderson.
The case previously was moved to the Bangor courthouse out of concerns that an impartial jury could not be seated in Machias.
The incident, which occurred on Route 189 in Lubec, involved a Lubec woman whom Smith had accused of assaulting him during an incident when he was still sheriff, according to a previously published report.
According to District Attorney Matthew Foster, Smith was driving his Toyota pickup truck on Route 189 when he allegedly realized the woman was driving her car behind him and he slammed on his brakes, nearly causing her vehicle to rear-end his. Two other vehicles behind the woman also nearly got in a chain-reaction collision, but none of the vehicles ended up striking each other, Foster said last year.
The vehicles resumed traveling along the road and, when the woman went to turn into the entrance of the local elementary school, Smith slammed on his brakes a second time, again nearly causing a rear-end collision, according to the prosecutor. The woman told police that she stopped suddenly enough that her dog flew forward and struck the windshield of her car, Foster said.
After the second-near accident, Smith got out of his vehicle and approached her car, the prosecutor said.
“He tried to open [her] car door,” Foster said, but she managed to lock it before he could grab the handle.
If convicted, Smith faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000 on the reckless conduct charge. He faces up to six months in jail and fine of up to $1,000 on the driving to endanger charge.
Last month, Foster dismissed felony theft and other charges against Smith because prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the former sheriff was aware there was a defined set of standards on how funds from inmate benefit funds could be spent.
Smith was accused of taking $11,700 from the inmate benefit account between January 2007, just after he first took office, and December 2012. He allegedly spent the money on gifts for deputies, charitable donations, meals, flowers, uniforms and other items that did not directly benefit inmates, according to a previously published report.
BDN writer Bill Trotter contributed to this report.