Justice Jeffrey Hjelm rejected a plea agreement June 29 in the case of a 25-year-old Boothbay Harbor man who allegedly assaulted his girlfriend Feb. 24.
A grand jury indicted Troy C. Bibber March 14 on nine felonies and one misdemeanor.
He faces three counts of Class B aggravated assault, one count of Class D criminal restraint, one count each of domestic violence criminal threatening and domestic violence reckless conduct, both Class B crimes; and one count each of domestic violence assault, domestic violence terrorizing, driving to endanger and leaving the scene; all Class C crimes.
Bibber pleaded guilty to four of the charges – aggravated assault, criminal restraint, domestic violence assault and criminal threatening – in exchange for the state’s dismissal of the other six.
The state and Bibber’s attorney, Christopher Ledwick, made a joint recommendation of a five-year prison sentence with all but 15 months suspended on the felonies and a concurrent, six-month sentence on the misdemeanor.
The four charges all stem from a Feb. 24 incident in Boothbay.
Assistant District Attorney John Liberman outlined the state’s case, if it went to trial, in which witnesses would testify about choking, physical assault and injury, and threatening death with a hatchet and a firearm, Liberman said.
The woman managed to call 911 during the assault, though unable to speak, and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Drake responded to the hang-up, Liberman said. When no one answered the front door, through a window, Bibber was observed assaulting the woman.
Drake subsequently entered the apartment through an unlocked door and arrested Bibber, according to court documents.
Bibber has prior convictions for assault, drug possession and violation of condition of release dating to 2005, as well as a 2011 domestic violence assault conviction, Liberman said.
The two previous assault convictions involve different female victims, Liberman said.
The prosecutor also explained the state’s reason for offering the plea agreement.
“It would involve sparing the victim of the prospect of having to testify at trial,” Liberman said.
He said the woman expressed “extreme reservations,” has explored treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and remains “in a very fragile state.”
“She did feel that the time was light” when told of the impending plea agreement, Liberman said.
“She’s not someone who’s recanting,” he said. “What she is, is scared.”
Hjelm, after hearing from both attorneys, addressed the defendant while explaining his rejection of the agreement.
“This is not a sentence, Mr. Bibber, that I can accept,” Hjelm said.
He called the case “an extreme example of domestic violence” and the proposed sentence an “extraordinarily modest and excessively light length of incarceration” that “doesn’t reflect how serious this crime is” or take into account Bibber’s criminal history.
“I’m supposed to impose a sentence which reflects how serious the charge is, how serious the crime is, and also to make sure the sentence has a deterrent effect” on Bibber and on the community, Hjelm said.
“This sentence is not adequate at all,” he said.
Hjelm’s decision allowed Bibber to withdraw his guilty plea, which he did. He still faces all 10 charges.
The six other charges refer to a separate, Jan. 28 incident wherein he allegedly assaulted the same woman with a vehicle, threatened to kill her and left the scene of the assault.
As of press time, his next court date had not been scheduled. At press time, he remains at Two Bridges Regional Jail in lieu of $2500 cash bail.
