SKOWHEGAN — The state has dismissed a domestic violence assault charge against a former corrections officer who was arrested in October 2018 and charged with putting his then-girlfriend in a choke hold after she reportedly caught him in bed with another woman.
Jeremy A.E. Carr, 34, of Skowhegan, later was placed on administrative leave without pay from his job at the county jail in East Madison, but since has lost his job and his apartment because of the allegations against him, his court-appointed lawyer, Ross Fichthorn, said Thursday.
Another charge of violating the condition of release has been placed in a deferred disposition file for one year, meaning that if Carr stays out of trouble and successfully completes a domestic violence class, the charge will be dropped. Another charge of violating the condition of release, which Fichthron said was brought in error, also was dismissed.
“The domestic violence charge was dismissed outright on Tuesday,” Fichthorn said Thursday. “It is absolutely dismissed. It’s not coming back.”
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney confirmed the dismissal of the domestic violence assault charge on Thursday.
“Mr. Carr plead guilty to a charge of violating a condition of release on a deferred disposition with a condition that he complete the certified batterers’ intervention program,” Maloney said in an email to the Morning Sentinel. “If successful, the charge will be dismissed in one year. If not, he will serve 30 days in jail.
“The charge of domestic violence assault was dismissed because the state was unable to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Fichthorn said the conditions violation occurred after Carr failed to update his address with the court.
Jeremy A.E. Carr Somerset County Jail photo
Carr has maintained his innocence since the domestic violence charge was first brought against him.
Fichthorn said Carr was protecting his female guest when his girlfriend of five years, Angela Roy, entered the bedroom and created a disturbance.
“He is innocent of the charges that the state has brought against him,” Fichthorn said in February in an email to the Morning Sentinel. “The alleged victim in this case entered his apartment without his permission. Based on the erratic conduct of the alleged victim, Mr. Carr exercised his legal right to defend his female guest and his property.”
Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said Sgt. Brian Gardiner, who is now deputy police chief, responded about 9:20 p.m. Oct. 15 to a report of a domestic disturbance at Indian Ridge Apartments off West Front Street.
“It was reported 33-year-old Jeremy Carr had choked his girlfriend … from behind and pulled her to the ground, ” Bucknam said in October.
Bucknam said Roy, 43, reportedly found a 31-year-old woman in Carr’s bed when she entered the bedroom of his apartment. She lived in a separate unit and since has moved.
Roy reportedly yelled at Carr and the other woman, and Carr grabbed her from behind and “put her in a choke hold, effectively cutting off her ability to breathe,” Bucknam said.
“She received injuries from both the choke hold and falling to the ground and was treated at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan,” he said.
Maloney said Carr has no prior domestic violence charges or convictions and scores low on the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment process, used to determine if it’s safe for someone to be out on bail.
Angela Roy, 43, reportedly found a woman in her boyfriend’s bed when she entered his apartment in October. Jeremy A.E. Carr, 33, a former Somerset County Jail corrections officer, was charged with domestic violence assault. The charge was dismissed this week. Morning Sentinel file photo by Doug Harlow
The Ontario approach is a danger assessment tool that helps to determine the level of risk an abused woman has of being hurt again by her intimate partner, according to the website dangerassessment.org. It’s been adopted by the Maine Legislature as an evidential measure for future behavior.
But Roy, who had been identified as the victim in the domestic violence case, said Carr has a history of violence against women and that justice was not served this week when the charge was dropped against him.
“This whole ordeal has taken so much out of me mentally, physically and emotionally. They robbed me of my case,” Roy said in a social media message Thursday. “I feel like I’ve gotten no justice and he gets to walk away again — it’s in God’s hands. The state of Maine needs to change their laws to protect victims. The highest death rate in the state is caused by domestic violence assault — too many slaps on the wrist, too many chances with him to repeat their violence.”
But Fichthorn said the accused in this case — Jeremy Carr — has suffered in a case that the state never could have proved.
“A domestic violence charge, even though it’s a misdemeanor, is a weaponized charge,” Fichthorn said. “You could lose your employment. Your constitutional Second Amendment right (to possess a firearm) can be stripped of you with this charge. It puts defendants in a very difficult position.”
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