AUGUSTA — Jeremy Clement, of Fairfield, accused of shooting and wounding his ex-girlfriend April 19 after kicking in a door to get inside her mother’s Oakland home, was in court Thursday to hear that his case would be presented to a grand jury next week.
Jasmine Caret, 33, was shot in the chest with a .40-caliber pistol during a struggle.
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Caret, who was treated for a bullet wound and other injuries, said on Thursday that she continues to undergo treatment and expects to have more medical procedures. She had scars visible on her chest and back.
Both Caret and her mother, who used a baseball bat to defend her daughter and her home that day, watched the brief court hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan, told Judge Eric Walker that the charges will be brought before a grand jury July 20 and requested that the next court hearing be an Oct. 5 dispositional conference because there were still some discovery issues to resolve.
All felony charges are processed through the grand jury unless a defendant waives that right.
Clement’s attorney, Seth Berner, also agreed the hearing should be continued to that date. Berner said he has had the case for only a month and that it was extremely complex.
Walker agreed, saying, “This is a very serious matter involving some extremely serious charges.”
Clement, 36, who was in a bright orange jail jumpsuit and wore shackles, looked all around the spectators’ area in the courtroom, obviously looking for someone.
He has been charged by complaint with elevated aggravated assault and burglary and held in lieu of $500,000 bail since his arrest April 19, the day of the shooting.
On June 21, a different judge refused to lower that bail, citing his concern for public safety.
At that time, Berner said Clement had spent some of his incarceration at the intensive mental health unit at the Maine State Prison in Warren and had been receiving medication. Berner said he had seen an improvement in Clement’s mental health, which 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).”
Clement and Jasmine Caret have a 3-year-old son together, and the son was taken away from Clement because the home was not safe, Jasmine’s mother Roseanna Caret said in earlier interviews.
Roseanna Caret had indicated she and her daughter had a safety plan in place in case Clement arrived at the home because they knew him to be a violent man. Roseanna Caret had a baseball bat, which she used on Clement after he forced his way into the house.
She said Jasmine Caret was wrestled to the ground by Clement, and Roseanna Caret reported she continued to hit Clement with the bat. Police arriving at the scene used a stun gun to subdue Clement.
Clement allegedly drove a four-wheeler to the Caret home, where Jasmine Caret had been staying for about two weeks prior to the shooting.
Clement has an extensive criminal history in Maine, according to a statewide records check. He pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges from 2004 to 2009 and received jail sentences, fines and probation, including convictions for criminal threatening in 2005, assault in 2006, operating under the influence in 2006, assault in 2007, and domestic violence assault in 2009. He had no criminal convictions for the next four years or so, until 2015, when he pleaded guilty to operating under the influence with one prior conviction and to disorderly conduct involving offensive words and gestures.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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