Indian Township man guilty of assault

MACHIAS – A Washington County Superior Court jury deliberated for 70 minutes Wednesday before finding an Indian Township man guilty of three lesser charges of attempted aggravated assault, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and assault.

The jury did not find Albert “A.J.” Harnois III, 20, guilty of aggravated attempted murder in the April 30 stabbing with an arrow of the Indian Township police chief.

Justice Joseph Jabar, who presided over the one-day trial, continued the case for sentencing to today. The jury of eight women and four men first came back to the courtroom after 50 minutes to ask for clarification on the counts. Twenty minutes later, they returned with verdicts.

Harnois was returned to the Washington County Jail in Machias where he has been held since his arrest on April 30. His bail had been set at $50,000 cash or $200,000 surety.

Harnois was charged with four counts of stabbing Chief Alexander Nicholas after the defendant resisted arrest.

According to Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh in his opening statement, Nicholas and another officer had gone to an Indian Township residence where Harnois was visiting to arrest him on another charge.

He was hiding in a back bedroom because he thought the officers wanted him for failing to pay restitution for a broken window.Harnois was discovered behind a door, bow and arrow in hand. According to one of the state’s two witnesses, Officer Christopher Tinker of Indian Townshp, who accompanied Nicholas, Harnois asked more than once to talk to the officers rather than be arrested.

Tinker said while testifying that Nicholas took the bow and arrow from Harnois and put them on the floor before both officers forced him to the floor, where his body covered the weapon.

Nicholas testified that, while attempting to handcuff Harnois, he felt the impact of the arrow in his chest. The police chief said he was wearing a protective vest that deflected the arrow. The arrow was described as a razor broadhead aluminum hunting arrow. The prosecutor presented the vest as evidence. Harnois took the stand as the defense’s only witness. He said the arrow was in his hand during the scuffle because that’s how he landed on the floor.

“I was smushed down,” he said. “I had to shift my body and slide my arm out. Then they grabbed my arm and cuffed me.”

He was asked by his defense attorney, Norman Toffolon of Machias, to lie on the floor to demonstrate the position in which the arresting officers placed him, which Harnois did.

During the trial, jurors were shown the broken arrow. Toffolon said the arrow broke while Harnois was lying on it. He said it did not break by being thrust into Nicholas’ chest.

“[Harnois] wanted to talk, not to kill,” Toffolon said in his closing argument.

According to the testimony of both officers, Harnois, once at the police station, joked, “Am I going to be a celebrity? Will I be famous now?” Tinker said he was taken aback by the statement.

Harnois told the jury that he did not make such a statement, nor did he remember having any conversation during the scuffle and arrest. He said he did not realize that he would be charged with attempted murder until his first appearance at the Washington County Superior Court on May 2, two days after his arrest.

He said he thought Nicholas was charging him with aggravated attempted murder “so he wouldn’t have to deal with me again.”

Toffolon said in his closing argument that the state had not proven that the arrow even touched Nicholas. Neither officer said he actually saw Harnois make a stabbing motion, Toffolon reminded jurors.

“The fact that Nicholas isn’t dead now is because he was wearing his vest,” Cavanaugh said in his closing argument, adding that Harnois’ action was attempted murder. “It doesn’t diminish it for a minute.”

After the verdict, Cavanaugh said, “The jury listened to the evidence and accepted the officers’ version of what happened as opposed to the defendant’s version. We will present the court on Thursday with Mr. Harnois’ record and dangerousness.”

Toffolon declined comment after the trial.