I sometimes get sad when I read and write about some of the recent news in this once wonderful United States of America...and it's a little more difficult when I write about the cases involving my family and I. But I'd rather suffer a little embarassment and heartache, in the hope that I can find others to work with and help bring about changes.
On July 10, 2024 Corporal Ted Martin, though there was absolutely no reason to, felt that the situation (Pete and I having a slight argument in our driveway) required such exigency that he skipped the warrant and went right to the arrest...of me!
Nobody should have been arrested that night, but someone should have gotten a warning. Martin never addressed our complaint regarding a third party in the home who had threatened us one month earlier by text message, locked Pete and I out of the home on July 8, and yelled violently at his brother and I on July 10. Martin spent about 20 minutes speaking with the man inside the home on both nights while Pete and I waited outside.
In mid February I got a letter from District Attorney Todd Collins. I was sure it was some ridiculous offer. That's how it works: they offer a fine, and if you don't accept they keep making you go for docket calls, and that can end up costing you much more time and money. Meanwhile your name on the docket sort of justifies their jobs.
Judge Stephen Nelson presided over this crap of a case. Nelson sentenced our son Shane on November 8, 2023. I asked him to recuse himself from my case. He'd sentenced Shane without letting me provide information to him regarding evidence I have of self-defense. I was present, the sentencing done by Zoom.
Collins' letter wasn't another offer. On the first page he said he was dismissing the count 1 (Attempted Disorderly Conduct), due to a wrongly cited subsection. Page I've posted below; Collins had added a worse charge, count 2 for Disorderly Conduct.
Nelson scheduled me to appear in end of February in Caribou Superior Court, five hours from my home in Lewiston. Pete and I went, and I asked Nelson to remove the bail condition so I'd be allowed back at my property; and he did. The roommate had moved out in August.
If I'd had an attorney, a competent one, from the beginning, they'd likely have gotten the case dismissed right off, due to lack of warrant and probable cause.
Did Todd Collins help Ted Martin contruct this lie? I haven't used fireworks or a single firecracker in 40 years! Martin says I made loud noise, noise INCLUDING...INCLUDING fireworks, on July 10!
There are many more lies in Corporal Martin's police report. Did you notice in the document that the date Martin signed the sworn statement is 2/10/25. It's defacto (created after-the-fact); my arraignment date was 11/04/24, and the arrest on 7/10/24. Martin didn't even mention fireworks in his police complaint for July 8, which he wrote a continuation report for, and that's what he used as his July 10 report. He mixed up all sorts of facts. I want, and Mainers deserve, a trial by jury, and investigation and accountability of those who participated in the false claim, wrongful arrest, and malicious prosecution, as well as violation of due process rights.
