The South Bristol lobsterman who threatened a fellow lobsterman with a shotgun in a trap-cutting dispute pleaded guilty to Class C reckless conduct June 29.
Gregory W. Lawson, 54, of South Bristol, will not be sentenced until at least September. In the meantime, he will only be able to leave his house to attend church, go to medical appointments and lobster.
His bail conditions forbid contact with the other lobsterman, Zachary Geyer, and Geyer’s family. Lawson must not possess dangerous weapons and will be subject to random searches.
Lawson’s attorney, John Markham, requested the delay in sentencing to allow Lawson to continue to harvest lobster through the height of the season.
The state dismissed additional Class C felony charges of criminal threatening and terrorizing in exchange for Lawson’s plea.
Markham said he will argue for a “no-jail” sentence due to the “compelling circumstances” of the Nov. 30, 2011 incident. He said 261 of Lawson’s lobster traps had been cut in 2011.
Lawson “had good reason to believe it was this gentleman,” Markham said, referring to the other lobsterman, Zachary Geyer.
Geyer did not immediately return a message requesting comment.
Markham said Geyer has had his license revoked twice for cutting and/or stealing traps.
Department of Marine Resources officials did not return messages. DMR licenses lobstermen in Maine.
Markham said Lawson, after firing a single round into the water, pointed the then-empty gun at Geyer’s legs and said, “If you don’t stop cutting my traps, I will come back and blow your legs off.”
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright, said he would argue for a three-year sentence with all but 90 days suspended and two years of probation.
Wright said, if the case had gone to trial, six witnesses would testify to the events of Nov. 30.
Lawson waited for Geyer in his truck near Osier’s Wharf, the commercial seafood business where both men sell their lobster, Wright said.
As Geyer arrived and walked toward the water, Lawson fired into the water, approached Geyer, pointed the shotgun in his face, accused him of cutting his traps and said he would blow his legs off, Wright said.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office arrested Lawson at gunpoint later the same day.
