South Bristol lobsterman Gregory W. Lawson, 54, was sentenced to three months in jail Nov. 9 for threatening another lobsterman with a shotgun last year.
Justice Jeffrey Hjelm sentenced Lawson to three years in prison with all but three months suspended and two years of probation, concluding a sentence hearing in Lincoln County Superior Court.
Lawson, on the morning of Nov. 30, 2011, approached Zachary Geyer at Osier’s Wharf, a wholesale seafood business where both men unload their catch, with a shotgun in hand.
Lawson fired a warning shot into the water, pointed the gun at Geyer, accused Geyer of cutting his traps and threatened to blow Geyer’s legs off.
Lawson and his defense attorney, John Markham, have not disputed the basic facts of the case.
A grand jury indicted Lawson for felony criminal threatening, reckless conduct and terrorizing March 16. He pleaded guilty to the reckless conduct charge June 29 as part of a deal with the state.
Geyer’s longtime girlfriend and his mother addressed the court at the Nov. 9 sentence hearing.
Geyer’s girlfriend, Lindsay Gutek, said the couple moved after the incident because she did not feel safe at their home and feared Lawson might carry out his threat.
“Safety is my main concern right now,” she said. “I don’t go alone anywhere now, something I used to do all the time.”
She said Lawson acted without proof of any wrongdoing on Geyer’s part. Geyer has denied cutting Lawson’s traps.
Lawson remains “a threat to the community, and I feel he should be held accountable for his actions that day,” Gutek said. She recommended counseling for what she called Lawson’s anger and impulse issues.
Zachary Geyer’s mother, Susan Geyer, also talked about the traumatic effect of the incident.
“He is a threat to my family and my extended family,” she said of Lawson.
“Someone planted a bad seed in Mr. Lawson’s head,” she said. “He then took the law into his own hands.”
“He has earned his time in jail,” she said. “He needs to know his behavior is unacceptable in society, and he needs to pay the consequences.”
Markham argued that Lawson had already been punished by strict bail conditions that did not allow him to leave his house except to work and attend church and medical appointments.
He said Lawson did not have any criminal history and did not violate his bail conditions, including a condition forbidding contact with Geyer and his family. Markham said he had submitted letters from people in South Bristol vouching for Lawson’s character. He argued for a fully suspended sentence.
Lawson’s sister, Jenny Gray, described her brother as a hard-working, honest and well-respected lobsterman from a long line of lobstermen. “He knows that he made a wrong decision,” she said.
“I would bet my life he would never, ever hurt anyone,” she said.
Lawson made a brief statement on his own behalf. “I lost $75,000 worth of gear and I just didn’t know what to do, and I apologize for the bad decision,” he said.
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright argued for the three-month sentence, partly to discourage similar “vigilantism” among lobstermen.
Justice Jeffrey Hjelm imposed the three-month initial jail term, which he called “very modest,” even while taking into account “one of the strongest outpourings of support” from a community that he has seen in his career.
Lawson, through Markham, asked for a stay until the end of January in order to continue fishing through the deep-water season. Hjelm granted a stay about half as long, ordering Lawson to report to jail Sunday, Dec. 16 at 3 p.m.
Lawson’s probation started immediately after the hearing.
