AUGUSTA — A man indicted on charge of attempting to murder a sheriff’s deputy during a standoff May 19 in Belgrade admitted Wednesday having violated his bail conditions.
Scott Allen Bubar, 40, of Brunswick and formerly of Belgrade, was at the Capital Judicial Center for a brief hearing in which the judge also discussed a defense motion to compel the state to provide its evidence in the case.
Bubar was accused of having alcohol, needles and suboxone strips in his Brunswick apartment when police officers conducted a bail check there on Sept. 22, and he admitted the violation.
Bubar and his father, Roger Bubar, 65, were shot in the standoff incident. The elder Bubar died from gunshot wounds, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Scott Bubar pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated attempted murder and reckless conduct with a firearm in connection with that incident.
Bubar is accused of attempting to kill Sgt. Jacob Pierce, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
Scott Bubar was wounded by a single gunshot, according to a May 22 email sent by Tim Feeley, then a spokesman for the Maine attorney general’s office, which investigates all officer-involved shootings. During the standoff, Pierce “is reported to have shot back when fired upon outside the Roger Bubar residence,” Feeley wrote. He also said there would be no more comment until the investigation was complete.
While the court’s file does not indicate who shot Roger Bubar, defense attorney Lisa Whittier, one of two attorneys representing Scott Bubar, said previously, “My reading of the discovery is the cops shot Roger. The cops also shot my client.”
On Wednesday, Justice Michaela Murphy talked with the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh, about the current discovery situation. Much of the information requested apparently remains at the Office of the Maine Attorney General.
“They understand you have to provide that to the defense, and you’ve been working with them?” Murphy asked.
Cavanaugh said he thought the motion to compel discovery would not be heard until mid-December.
Murphy told him to give the attorney general’s office a judge’s order signed July 25, 2017, ordering that they turn over ballistics reports, photographs, laboratory analysis reports, DNA reports and autopsy information. Murphy said that “would be critical at that point.”
At Bubar’s arraignment, Cavanaugh said the allegation in the indictment is that Bubar was “barricaded inside his father’s residence” when he shot at numerous police officers responding to a call about a domestic dispute.
The sentencing on the bail violation was continued to a hearing to be set later this month, and Bubar remains free on bail.
The judge also dealt with an issue involving a conflict between conditions of Bubar’s bail and those in his Maine Pretrial Services contract. She indicated specifically that substance abuse treatment was not required.
“Keep following the bail order that I signed now,” she said.
She also told him to follow up with staff at Maine Pretrial Services.
“I’ll be leaving here directly and talking to them,” Bubar said.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
