BANGOR, Maine — A Penobscot County jury will decide whether former Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith 19 months ago suddenly slammed on his truck brakes to avoid hitting a cat or whether he stopped suddenly to harass a woman driving behind him who was suing him for false arrest.
Smith, 63, formerly 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.
The jury of 11 women and four men, including three alternates, began hearing testimony Wednesday morning at the Penobscot Judicial Center. The trial will continue after a lunch break.
Jurors could get the case late this afternoon or Thursday morning, Superior Court Justice William Anderson said as the trial began.
The case was moved last year to the Bangor courthouse from Washington County out of concern that an impartial jury could not be seated in Machias.
The incident, which occurred on Route 189 near School Street in Lubec, involved Deborah Haskins, formerly known as Bousquet, 42, of Trescott, whom Smith had accused of assaulting him during an incident when he was still sheriff.
The charge was dismissed later but Haskins did threaten to file a lawsuit against Smith in Washington County Superior Court alleging false arrest.
Smith was driving his red Toyota pickup truck on Route 189 when he allegedly slammed on his brakes, nearly causing her vehicle to rear-end his, Haskins, a local teacher, testified Wednesday. Two other vehicles behind the woman also nearly got in a chain-reaction collision, but none of the vehicles ended up striking each other, she said.
Haskins told the jury that she did not know who was driving the truck but thought it might “be some girl with an issue with me.” The teacher said she was angry about the near collision and made an obscene gesture to the driver of the truck but did not let go of her steering wheel. Under cross-examination, she denied honking her horn at the red truck.
The vehicles resumed traveling along the road and, when Haskins went to turn into the entrance of the local elementary school, Smith stopped a second time, blocking the entrance to School Street, she testified.
This time, Smith got out of his vehicle and “ran over” to her car,” Haskins testified. He shouted at her and called her an obscene name, repeatedly telling her, “You need to back off.”
Haskins admitted that she did not call 911 until the following day when she called police from the office of her attorney, Jeffrey Davidson of Machias.
Smith called to report the incident because the assault charge was still pending at the time and his contact with her might have violated her bail conditions, defense attorney Don Brown of Brewer told the jury.
Former Washington County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Carter testified that he took statements from Smith, Haskins and witness Larry Dinsmore of Lubec but did not issue any summonses. The charges against Smith were filed several weeks after the incident.
Carter now works for the police department in Gulfport, Florida.
Smith is not the first former Washington County sheriff to face charges.
Joseph Tibbetts, 68, of Columbia, pleaded guilty in May 2010 to a charge of threatening display of a dangerous weapon, after originally being charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, a felony.
He was ordered a year later to pay a $250 fine, perform 120 hours of community service and forfeit a single firearm.
Tibbetts maintained that he stopped a vehicle he believed contained people who were stealing blueberries while he worked a security detail in Columbia in August 2009.
The couple and their children in the car, however, said they were out looking for coyotes and were terrorized by Tibbetts.
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 a fine of up to $1,000 on the driving to endanger charge.
Last month, Foster dismissed felony theft and other charges against Smith in another case because prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the former sheriff was aware there was a defined set of standards on how money 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.
Watch bangornews.com for updates.