March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Hostage situation brings convictions > Bangor man faces 21 1/2-year term

BANGOR — A Bangor man who allegedly held his estranged wife and children hostage during an overnight siege last January was convicted Thursday of five counts relating to the incident.

The Penobscot County Superior Court jury acquitted William Fay Jr., 23, of two additional counts and deadlocked on a third charge connected to the Jan. 27 incident that occurred at a home on the Davis Road where Karen Fay and the couple’s children lived.

Fay was taken to Penobscot County Jail after failing to make bail which was increased to $10,000 surety or 50-percent cash following the two-day trial.

Fay was convicted of tampering with a victim, violating a protection order, and three counts of violating a condition of release. He faces a maximum of 21 1/2 years in jail and is expected to be sentenced next week, according to Assistant Penobscot County District Attorney Jeff Silverstein.

The jury acquitted Fay of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and of assault on a child. The jury deadlocked on a felony charge of assault on his wife and that charge was dropped at the conclusion of the trial.

According to Silverstein, Fay was arrested Jan. 17 and charged with assaulting his wife, Karen, 25. A bail condition ordered him to have no contact with her, but he violated that condition, Silverstein said, when he entered her Capehart residence on Jan. 27.

Fay “basically held her hostage. He stayed in the house with her and the children throughout the evening and into the next day, at various times assaulting her and threatening her with a knife,” said Silverstein.

Fay was convicted of forcing his wife to write a letter to the court trying to get officials to drop the Jan. 17 assault charge. The letter wasn’t mailed, and Karen Fay later showed it to police.

Fay was accused of assaulting his daughter, then age 2, during the siege by tightening his hands on her throat after she started to cry. He was acquitted of the charge.

When a neighbor dropped by for a visit on Jan. 28, Karen Fay was able to leave the residence and call police. Her husband was then arrested and jailed on various charges. He got out of jail two days later, after making bail of $1,000.

Fay allegedly violated his no-contact bail condition again in February — twice.

Karen Fay, who has since left the state with her three children, now 5, 3, and 18 months, returned to testify at the trial.

Silverstein said he had mixed feelings about the outcome of the trial.

“It was a difficult situation. As I explained to the jury these offenses occurred in the privacy of the home. You would hope for independent witnesses but it’s usually a `he-said, she-said’ situation.”

Silverstein said the jury found cause for reasonable doubt in some of the counts.

During the trial, defense attorney Perry O’Brien, who represented Fay, suggested most of the story behind the charges was an elaborate hoax. Attempts to contact O’Brien Friday were unsuccessful.


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