AUGUSTA — For flipping the bird with both hands in court to a woman he had assaulted, Terrence N. Townes will spend a year behind bars.
Townes, now 40, and formerly of Bangor, was subject to bail conditions prohibiting him from contact with the woman when he made that gesture April 11, 2017, in a courtroom at the Capital Judicial Center. Townes had pleaded not guilty that day to assault charges and as he left the courtroom, looked at the woman and raised both middle fingers at her.
A jury in December 2017 convicted Townes of aggravated assault for the October 2016 attack at 53 Water St., Augusta, which left the woman blind in one eye.
The attack occurred as the woman, a property manager, was attempting to get him to leave the building.
Townes was sentenced later to an initial 12 years in prison, with the rest of the 25-year sentence suspended while he spends four years on probation. He is serving that sentence at the Maine State Prison in Warren.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the charge of violating condition of release and was sentenced to a year in prison, concurrent to the sentence for aggravated assault.
In an affidavit filed at court, Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Charles Clapperton recounted the incident on April 11, 2017, saying that “when Mr. Townes was exiting the courtroom, he used both hands and raised both middle fingers to individuals in the main court gallery.”
The assault victim told an investigator that “he was looking right at me” and both hands went high in the air and he stuck out his middle fingers. She also said that Townes “kept making faces at her.”
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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