March 29, 2024
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Winslow man gets five years in shooting incident

AUGUSTA – A Winslow man convicted of a string of charges linked to an assault on his wife and the subsequent shooting of a sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to more than five years in prison, but his troubles with the law are far from over.

Bobby Miller, 30, still faces a December trial in Kennebec County Superior Court for aggravated assault on a police officer, a charge that resulted in a hung jury after last April’s three-day trial. On Thursday, Miller was handed consecutive sentences totaling five years and four months for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and criminal threatening, as well as possession of performance-enhancing drugs. He also was sentenced to three years of probation.

The case centered on the police response to an Aug. 4, 2005, call from Miller’s wife, Heather, who said she was being assaulted by her husband. When police arrived, Miller fired a shot through a sliding glass door toward three officers, hitting Kennebec County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Chase in the chest, inches from his throat. Chase was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived.

Defense attorney Ronald Bourget maintained that Miller, a weightlifter and former building contractor, was justified in defending his North Pond Road home, but Justice Nancy Mills disagreed. “This could not be a more reckless act – it was a shot in the direction of three police officers, creating substantial risk,” the judge said.

Bourget said he plans to appeal the consecutive sentences and the decision to lump all of the charges together in one trial.

Miller will be credited for 14 months he already has served in the Kennebec County Jail and will complete his sentence in a Department of Corrections facility, pending his appeals.


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