A New Hampshire man facing both state and federal charges related to his alleged attempt to kill his wife is seeking to have the federal charges dismissed.

Shortly after the shooting in Saco, Gregory Owens was charged in U.S. District Court in Portland with crossing state lines to commit a crime of domestic violence. In February, he was indicted by the York County grand jury on multiple state charges, including aggravated attempted murder.

Owens is a former Army marksman who prosecutors say tried to kill his wife during a staged break-in after his jealous girlfriend in Wisconsin threatened to expose their affair.

Police say Owens broke into the home of Steve and Carol Chabot on Hillview Avenue in Saco on Dec. 18 wearing a ski mask and armed with a 9 mm pistol. They say he shot his wife, Rachel Owens, 55, who was staying at the house. She was shot three times, including once in the head. Steve Chabot was shot three times in the torso through his bedroom door.

Owens’ attorney, Sarah Churchill, has submitted a motion to dismiss the federal case, arguing that both prosecutions arise from the same investigation. The motion says the state charges are extensive enough to cover any federal interest in the case and the two jurisdictions have cooperated to the point where Owens is being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

Churchill also argued that the large number of witnesses and scientific evidence in the case will waste resources of both the prosecution and the defense.

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The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, Darcie McElwee, has until July 27 to respond to the motion.

Churchill also has sought to have evidence in the case suppressed because, she argues, the search warrant applications did not establish probable cause to believe Owens was involved so the information gathered through them should not be admitted.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in August.

David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

Twitter: MaineHenchman


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