AUGUSTA — A judge on Wednesday refused to lower the $500,000 cash bail set for Jeremy Clement, of Fairfield, who is accused of shooting and wounding his ex-girlfriend after kicking a door in to get inside her mother’s Oakland home.
Clement’s attorney, Seth Berner, argued for $5,000 cash bail with stringent conditions and supervision during a hearing at the Capital Judicial Center conducted via video link with the Kennebec County jail. Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan objected strenuously, saying the circumstances surrounding the shooting — during which his ex-girlfriend’s mother hit him in the head with a baseball bat — were so severe that the state initially requested that bail be set at $1 million.
Clement, 36, who is charged with elevated aggravated assault and burglary, has been held since his arrest April 19, the day of the shooting.
In rejecting the defense motion to reduce bail, Judge Paul Mathews said, “The court is satisfied there is a significant public safety issue here.”
Berner said Clement has spent some of that time at the intensive mental health unit at the Maine State Prison in Warren and had been receiving medication. Berner said he himself has seen an improvement in Clement’s condition. He said Clement’s mental health had been deteriorating at the time of the shooting “due to a number of circumstances, including losing his children to (the Department of Health and Human Services).”
Berner told Mathews that he sought a bail reduction because “when bail was initially set, I think the court probably had only the state’s version of events and the fact that the case had attracted some headlines.”
Berner added, “My understanding is that this was a suicide attempt. This was not an attempt to hurt anyone else. He was hit from behind, and that’s what caused the gun to discharge.” Berner said the act was “reckless, but without any intent to cause harm.”
Jasmine Caret, 33, was shot in the chest during a struggle in which, the prosecutor said, Clement “placed the gun on her chest and shot her.” Caret was treated for a bullet wound to her shoulder and a collapsed lung, according to her mother.
He said that if Clement’s bail were reduced as the defense requested, Clement would live at his mother’s home in Benton. Clement’s mother, Hazel M. Bouchard, was in the courtroom and told the judge she would ensure her son met any conditions set by the court.
“Jeremy’s story has been consistent right from the very beginning,” she said. “It was beyond grief when he went through this. I know Jeremy he would not hurt anyone like that. He was going through mental anguish, and anything he was going to do, he would do to himself.”
Berner said Clement had no significant criminal record, no failures to appear in court, and “I think he would be an acceptable candidate for Maine Pretrial Services.”
Clement, wearing a long-sleeved green shirt under an orange jail uniform, stood next to Berner and whispered and occasionally shook his head as if he disagreed with what the prosecutor was saying.
Madigan objected to any bail reduction and listed Clement’s criminal history, including two prior domestic assault convictions, from 2007 and 2009, involving different victims. He said Clement was placed on probation as part of those sentences and failed to comply with conditions both times.
Madigan said Clement had four prior bail violations and was convicted of violating a protective order in 2007.
He also said Caret, the woman who was shot, was named as the victim in Clement’s 2015 criminal threatening conviction.
Madigan initially said Clement violated a protective order issued April 13, but then apologized to the court after Berner indicated that the protective order was issued to protect a different person.
“My understanding is that he was under no prohibition against being with victim or at the place where he was,” Berner told the judge, adding, “This wasn’t just a simple mistake. That was the basis for turning Mr. Clement into a societal nightmare. Now we’re hearing that’s not the case.”
Madigan said afterward that because Clement was under a protective order, he was prohibited from having any firearms.
A temporary order for protection from abuse was issued April 13, 2017, in Skowhegan District Court against Clement on behalf of a woman and a minor child. The order includes a prohibition “from possessing any firearm, muzzle-loading firearm, bow or cross bow and any dangerous weapons.”
On April 11, Clement’s children were taken from him, and Madigan said Clement threatened the DHHS workers, saying he would kill anyone who took his children.
A hearing on that issue had been scheduled for April 20, the day after the shooting.
Madigan said that within the past two years, police had gone 17 times to the Fairfield home where Clement and the victim lived.
“There an extensive history here,” Madigan said.
He outlined the events of the day of the shooting, saying there was a series of phone calls beginning at 5:38 p.m., including ones from the victim at her mother’s house in Oakland asking police to check on Clement because she was worried about his welfare. Then Clement called police asking for advice on what to do at the hearing regarding placement of his children.
By 8:30 p.m., Madigan said, the woman called Oakland police saying she had been in contact with Clement and was concerned that he was coming over.
“Twenty minutes later she called again. He was at the residence. He arrived on a four-wheeler,” Madigan said.
He estimated the distance was 5 or 6 miles. Clement was refused admittance and kicked the door in, Madigan said.
“The victim’s mother was there and she immediately began to strike out at him,” he said.
When police arrived, Madigan said, “the victim was walking out of the breezeway holding her shoulder, indicating she had been shot.”
Inside, officers found Clement on the floor, “tussleing with her mother,” Madigan said, and police initially pointed a gun at Clement and later used a Taser on him.
In an interview the following day, Jasmine Caret’s mother, Roseanna Caret, said she was not about to let Clement kill her daughter.
“I beat the crap out of him with a bat,” Roseanna Caret said at the time.
Madigan said Clement used a .40-caliber handgun and that both the bullet and the casing were recovered and that Clement had another round in his pocket.
“The defendant was later interviewed and said he went there to kill himself, not her,” Madigan told the judge. “The evidence indicated he had other motives.”
Madigan said Clement does not appear to observe court orders, and is a risk to others, including the victim and state workers.
As soon as the hearing concluded, Clement’s mother, a friend who also spoke on Clement’s behalf, and a third woman left the courtroom.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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