SKOWHEGAN — Defense attorney Leonard Sharon told the jury Tuesday that Andrew Maderios’ former girlfriend planned since January 2014 to falsely accuse the then-Nokomis High School music teacher of domestic abuse.

Maderios, 29, of Pittsfield, is charged with nine counts of domestic violence against his former live-in girlfriend, four of which are felonies. Tuesday was the second day of the Somerset County Superior Court trial.

Sharon, cross-examining the accuser, who testified for the prosecution Monday, suggested that the plan she described to a family member as a “special project” as early as January 2014 was to falsely accuse Maderios of domestic abuse. She told the family member in a July 2014 Facebook message that the project “was upon us and I’m ready for action.” Maderios was arrested that month.

She also wrote that “the target,” Maderios, was aware of the project.

In response to Sharon’s questions, the woman testified Tuesday that the words she used in the Facebook message were code for gathering her children and belongings and moving into another home to be safe from the abuse.

The woman, whom the Morning Sentinel isn’t identifying because the state regards her as a victim, told police she was beaten, kicked, pinched and strangled until she vomited and lost consciousness on and off for two years. She said the abuse ended when she got a protection from abuse order from the court in August 2014.

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Sharon, who dominated most of the time in court Tuesday, told the jury of eight men and seven women that, much as a drug addict would fake an injury to get narcotics, Maderios’ former girlfriend faked the charges against him to “make a good plan.” He didn’t say what the motive for the plan was.

Maderios’ former girlfriend countered each of Sharon’s rapidly delivered questions, saying that the plan wasn’t what he insinuated, but a “safety plan” she would execute while Maderios was on a field trip to Europe with music students, including her own teenage daughter. Maderios was arrested when he got off an airplane in Atlanta returning from the trip to Europe.

Sharon continued his questioning amid breaks in proceedings Tuesday, circling back over testimony from Monday, from notes documenting the abuse the woman kept on her cellphone and statements made to police and to the court during her August 2014 protection hearing.

Sharon tried to trip up the woman, who admitted she might have dates mixed up but said she was certain of what happened to her.

Sharon noted the woman never told police, her coworkers, her doctors and physician assistants or her children about the abuse until the plan was well underway.

“You pick and choose what to share with the court,” he said to her at one point.

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The woman told Sharon she hid her bruises well and sometimes got dates mixed up in her memory.

She said on Monday that she feared calling police sooner because she knew Maderios would be arrested and make bail, then come after her and her children.

Somerset County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney, meanwhile, called medical witnesses who described the victim’s bruising and physical complaints as possible evidence of domestic abuse.

Maloney called Barbara Covey, a physician and strangulation expert, to set the groundwork for the domestic violence case against Maderios.

Sharon, in his cross-examination, stressed that Covey didn’t speak to the victim, but instead simply read the facts given to her by the prosecution. Sharon said the medical complaints were about pre-existing conditions.

Covey testified that in 50 percent of strangulation cases, physical damage isn’t visible immediately after it happens, and in the vast majority of cases it isn’t visible after a few days.

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The court Tuesday also heard replays of cellphone audio recordings the former girlfriend made of the alleged attacks to determine if the woman’s voice seemed affected by strangulation.

Tuesday’s proceedings were interrupted several times with sidebar meetings between the judge and the lawyers, one lasting nearly 30 minutes. Information on what was said during the meetings was not shared with the jury.

The questioning of the former girlfriend was also interrupted when other medical professionals were called to testify.

Proceedings were called short just before 5 p.m. Tuesday when defense documents couldn’t be found immediately.

Maloney had questioned the woman for about five hours Monday, playing the audio recordings and asking the woman to identify what was happening on them. Maderios was charged after his girlfriend told Somerset County investigators that she suffered months of abuse that included strangulation, slamming her head against a concrete floor and threats on her life and those of her children.

Maderios is free on $10,000 cash bond.

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The trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Doug_Harlow


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