MAINE DEPUTY SHERIFF SLAIN AFTER MASS. JUDGE FREED SUSPECT
The fugitive who remained the target of a massive manhunt last night in the killing of a Maine sheriff’s deputy was freed on sharply reduced bail by a Massachusetts judge just weeks ago after his arrest on gun charges.
Police say John Daniel Williams, 29, of Madison, Maine, fatally shot Somerset County Sheriff’s Cpl. Eugene Cole, 61, early yesterday morning in Norridgewock, Maine, then took off in his marked cruiser, robbed a Cumberland Farms convenience store, and disappeared. Williams had been due to appear in a Massachusetts court on gun charges yesterday.
Williams had been arrested in Massachusetts March 22 by state police who said they found him after his car went off Interstate 495 in Haverhill at 3:50 a.m. Police reported he was glassy-eyed and slurring his words, with an illegal handgun, ammo and largecapacity magazine in the trunk, as well as several bags of white and brown powder police suspected were drugs.
Prosecutors in Haverhill District Court asked for $10,000 bail on firearms charges that carry a minimum of 2 1⁄2 years in jail. He
was not immediately charged with drug possession.
Assistant Essex District Attorney Thomas Sholds told Judge Michael A. Patten, “It’s concerning, judge, that someone in his condition is driving around the commonwealth with a significant amount of firepower at his disposal.”
Sholds also referenced Williams’ brief criminal history in Maine, which includes a 2006 conviction for burglary and another for theft in 2007. In Tennessee, the Shelby County sheriff’s office reports Williams faced drug and drug-related charges dating as far back as 2008 and was revived from an overdose at least once.
Patten set Williams’ bail at $7,500. Williams appealed, asking for $2,000. Superior Court Judge Timothy Q. Feeley reduced the $7,500 bail to what he deemed an “appropriate” $5,000 based on the minimum mandatory 2 1⁄2-year sentence Williams was facing for carrying a firearm without a license and his lack of ties to the Bay State.
Because prosecutors did not request a dangerousness hearing for Williams, Feeley could not lawfully consider his potential threat to public safety in reaching his decision.
“Given his lack of ties to the community and the fact that his prior record did not contain acts of violence, we felt that $10,000 was an appropriate amount,” Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for Essex DA Jonathan Blodgett, said yesterday.
Trial Court spokeswoman Jennifer Donahue declined comment on Feeley’s behalf, explaining the judicial ethical codes he’s bound by bar him from commenting on “an open and pending matter.”
In Maine yesterday, authorities appealed for the public’s help as they cast a nationwide dragnet for Williams.
Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster called Cole, the slain deputy, “one of the finest deputies you could want to meet.”
“This still remains a very active investigation,” Lancaster said. “We have been following up on numerous leads throughout the day. If anyone knows the whereabouts of John Williams, please give us a call. Do not approach Williams — he remains armed and extremely dangerous.”
Cole’s body was located at 7:15 a.m. yesterday on Mercer Road in Norridgewock. Lancaster declined to provide more specific details about his fate. He did say his deputies do not wear body cameras.
Maine State Police said they believe Cole was killed between 1 and 2 a.m. and that Williams stole his cruiser to rob a Cumberland Farms on Waterville Road. The cruiser was later found abandoned on Martin Stream Road, also in Norridgewock.