BANGOR – A Brewer man appears to have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the November shooting death of a Texas man living in Brewer.
Eric Lane, 27, shot Eric Loessin, 47, in the chest after a Nov. 8 confrontation, according to police. From the beginning, investigators considered the possibility that Lane, who was Loessin’s neighbor and landlord, acted in self-defense.
Originally from Texas, Loessin had been staying for about four months in the downstairs apartment at 43 Maple St. with Mary Coleman, 70. Police said last year that Coleman went to Lane’s apartment the night of the shooting looking for help after she had a dispute with Loessin.
Deputy Attorney General William Stokes refused Monday to comment on whether his office had presented evidence to the Penobscot County grand jury.
Lane could not be reached Monday for comment.
The grand jury handed up indictments late Monday afternoon and Lane’s name was not on the list of those being charged with felonies.
In November, however, Stokes said that the case would be presented to the grand jury but acknowledged that “there’s an issue of self-defense that has to be explored.”
“We will give [the grand jury] a complete presentation of the information that we have,” he said then.
Although he wouldn’t comment on the Lane case, Stokes said that it was not uncommon in “similar situations where self-defense might be involved that we present to a grand jury and let them decide if the case warrants an indictment.”
A Maple Street neighbor in November told the Bangor Daily News that as police confronted Lane outside the apartment that night, Lane claimed that he had been attacked first.
Lane is a security guard at the University of Maine, and, although he is not permitted to carry a gun in that capacity, authorities said he had the necessary papers to possess a concealed firearm.
Under state statutes, a person is justified in using deadly force when that person reasonably believes it is necessary and believes that the other person intends to use unlawful deadly force or commit a crime such as robbery or kidnapping against them or a third party.
The statute also requires that a person must reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to prevent the infliction of bodily injury against the person or a third party.
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