Defendant faints at 10-year sentence

BANGOR – The victims and the defendant urged leniency, but when the judge said “10 years,” the defendant fainted.

Medics from the Bangor Fire Department arrived within minutes Thursday afternoon in Penobscot County Superior Court to see if the Lincoln man’s health would allow the sentencing to continue. It did after emergency medical personnel checked out the defendant.

After a brief recess, Superior Court Justice John Nivison of Augusta allowed Eric H. Merrill, 42, to remain seated. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison with all but 21/2 years suspended and four years of probation. He also ordered Merrill to pay a $200 fine and to pay the victim $600 in restitution for the damage to her home and vehicle not covered by insurance.

Merrill pleaded guilty to firing between 30 and 40 gunshots inside and outside his girlfriend’s home, then setting her Chevrolet Suburban on fire. He was out of work, falling behind on his bills and drinking heavily when the incident happened on Jan. 26, police said.

No one was hurt in the incident. One shot, however, went through a neighbor’s garage and blew out a taillight while the couple was in the car, according to Greg Campbell, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, who prosecuted the case. The neighbors had just parked the car in the garage when Merrill began firing.

“You put [your girlfriend] and your neighbors at risk for their lives,” Nivison said. “Firing that many shots in that location was irresponsible to say the least.”

Merrill was indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury in April on charges of arson, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, aggravated criminal mischief and assault. He faced up to 30 years in prison on the Class A arson charge alone.

He has been held in the Penobscot County Jail unable to make bail since his arrest.

Defense attorney Kirk Bloomer of Bangor urged the judge to sentence his client to two years in prison with all but nine months suspended.

“I wanted the judge to put more weight on the mitigating factors than on the aggravating factors and what he has done while he has been in jail,” Bloomer said after the sentencing. “He has gotten his GED, been accepted to college, gotten counseling, participated in [programs for alcohol abuse] and was accepted as a trusty, which for a pretrial inmate is almost unheard of.”

Campbell recommended Merrill be sentenced to 12 years with all but four suspended. After the sentencing, he said his office had treated the incident as a “domestic violence rampage.”

“I think that the time he’s to serve is too little,” Campbell said after the hearing. “He terrorized [his girlfriend] and his neighbors.”

Merrill apologized for his actions and promised the judge he would not be in court again. He asked to be sentenced to time served.

Bloomer said that Merrill did not have any medical condition that would have caused him to faint. The defense attorney speculated that his client fainted from the shock of hearing that he might have to spend 10 years behind bars.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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