AUGUSTA — The brother of a man accused of shooting and killing a 33-year-old man from West Gardiner in 2020 has been sentenced to three years in prison for hindering his brother’s arrest.
Officials allege Jashaun Lipscombe, 23, of New York City committed the killing because he was upset that the victim was late when picking him up to go to the airport.
The shooter’s brother, Jarae Lipscombe, 26, also of New York City was found guilty at a jury trial last year of hindering apprehension or prosecution because he lied to police and helped his brother flee from the crime scene, then flee the state and remain on the lam for nearly nine months.
The older Lipscombe was sentenced Thursday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta to five years in prison, with all but three years suspended.
Jashaun Lipscombe, who has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial on a murder charge for allegedly fatally shooting Joseph Tracy in Waterville, was stopped while walking near the crime scene and interviewed by police minutes after the shooting the night of June 6, 2020, but was released because he did not fit the description of the suspect that Jarae Lipscombe had given officers and because he had given police a false name.
Jarae Lipscombe then helped his brother make arrangements to hide out and later make his way out of state, according to officials.
Tracy died two days later. His death was ruled a homicide, with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determining the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the neck and back, with spinal cord perforation.
Jashaun Lipscombe was not arrested until nearly nine months after the shooting. He was apprehended in New York City in March 2021 and brought to Maine to face a murder trial.
Tracy’s parents and two sisters testified Thursday that they were fearful knowing that whoever was responsible for Joseph’s death was still at large, and that many friends and relatives did not attend a celebration of life for him because they feared for their safety with the killer still loose.
Tracy’s sister, Jessica Poulin, said without Jarae Lipscombe’s inaccurate description of the suspect the night of the shooting, Jashaun Lipscombe would have been detained immediately.
The details of what police believe happened were revealed with the release of a previously sealed affidavit in 2021.
It stated Jashaun Lipscombe shot Tracy because Lipscombe was angry that Tracy was an hour late to give him a ride to the Bangor International Airport.
The incident took place in a room at the Home Place Inn at 150 College Ave. in Waterville.
The affidavit says that on June 6, 2020, Waterville police received a 911 call about a shooting on College Avenue. Tracy was still alive when emergency workers arrived, but they did not think he would survive.
Jarae Lipscombe told police at the time that Tracy had gone into the apartment at the Home Place Inn to use the bathroom and he, Jarae Lipscombe, heard a disturbance in the apartment and then a gunshot. Jarae Lipscombe said a man then ran out of the apartment, nearly running into him. Jarae Lipscombe described him as a Black man whom he did not know.
A police officer later stopped a man walking on nearby Central Avenue who did not match the description Jarae had given emergency workers of the suspect, so the officer let the man go, according to the affidavit. Police later learned the man, Jashaun Lipscombe, had given the officer a false name.
Jarae Lipscombe did not testify at his sentencing Thursday.
Jarae Lipscombe’s lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said his client had no idea Tracy would be shot that night, immediately called 911 to report the shooting to police, tried to help Tracy after he was shot and was remorseful.
“Jarae called 911. He didn’t need to do that,” Morgan said, noting the prompt telephone call allowed police to get on the scene quickly. “He was found holding Joe Tracy in his lap. He cried about it and stated (Tracy) didn’t deserve it.”
Morgan sought a sentence of five years, with all but 15 months suspended.
Prosecutor Chris Coleman, an assistant district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, argued for a seven-year prison sentence, saying Jarae Lipscombe caused great fear and anger for Tracy’s family by significantly increasing how long it took to catch Jashaun Lipscombe.
Coleman said Jarae Lipscombe’s actions in deceiving police and assisting his brother in getting out of Maine required a plan that was carried out over multiple days. He argued that Jarae Lipscombe did not show remorse for his crime.
Superior Court Justice William Stokes, who presided over the trial and issued the sentence Thursday, said Jarae Lipscombe was in a difficult position the night of the shooting, facing a decision whether to tell police his brother had shot Tracy or risk charges for hindering an arrest.
Stokes said it could be seen as understandable why he would want to protect his brother, but Jarae Lipscombe also knew a grievous, potentially fatal injury had been inflicted on Tracy, and Jarae Lipscombe lied to police by giving and sticking with a false description of the suspect.
“The unfortunate part of that is police had the (alleged) perpetrator in custody within minutes of the shooting, but based on the false description by Jarae, they let that person go,” Stokes said. “I don’t think we can minimize the anguish a family has when a member of their family has been murdered, but then not knowing who did it, and where are they.
“It’s bad enough to lose a family member to violence, but what compounds that pain is not knowing.”
Jarae Lipscombe’s sentence includes three years of probation.
He has already spent about 13 months in prison, and if he violates the terms of his probation, he could be required to serve his full prison sentence of five years.
Those terms include he not possess dangerous weapons or illegal drugs and not contact witnesses or victims involved in the case.
A similar hindering charge against a co-defendant in the case, Alexis Koutsikos, has yet to go to trial.
Jashaun Lipscombe’s murder case is tentatively set for a jury trial in May.
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