SKOWHEGAN — Prosecutors will not retry a man who successfully appealed two convictions stemming from a Pittsfield police officer’s foot being run over during a traffic stop, a decision that the officer called a “betrayal” and the man’s defense attorney applauded.

The Somerset County district attorney’s office dismissed all counts against Michael Kilgore, 49, on Friday according to court records on file.

The dismissal, filed by First Assistant District Attorney Timothy Snyder, lists “interest of justice” as the reason prosecutors dropped the charges.

“It feels like a betrayal,” said Chelsea Merry, the officer Kilgore was accused of assaulting.

Kilgore, who was found not guilty of five of seven charges against him after a two-day jury trial in Skowhegan in June 2024, appealed his convictions and sentence on the two counts for which the jury found him guilty: Class C assault on an officer and Class D assault.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, taking issue with District Court Judge Andrew Benson’s jury instructions, threw out those convictions in an August decision, sending the matter back to the trial court for further proceedings. Augusta-based attorney Scott Hess, who represented Kilgore in the appeal, raised other issues the high court did not address.

Maeghan Maloney, district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, initially did not answer in August whether her office intended to try Kilgore again.

“The jury gave a split decision of not guilty on some counts and guilty on others,” Maloney wrote in a text message Tuesday. “Due to the Law Court decision overturning the guilty verdicts, retrying the case would require only introducing evidence that applied to the counts with guilty verdicts. But the evidence is intertwined and there is no evidence left that can be introduced without violating double jeopardy.”

Merry, reached Tuesday via telephone, said the district attorney’s office did not notify her of the decision in the appeal or prosecutors’ subsequent decision to dismiss the case. She said she only found out about the possibility of a retrial recently when a friend contacted her about it. Merry said she then searched Kilgore’s name on the internet and found news articles about the law court’s decision.

“I never heard anything beyond sentencing,” Merry said. “After that, I tried to move on with my life. So, this is hitting like day one all over again.”

Maloney said she spoke with Merry about the case Tuesday after Merry reached out to her.

“I spoke with the victim in the case, and I am deeply saddened over what she went through,” Maloney wrote in a message. “I am surprised the original jury gave a not guilty verdict on the most serious counts.”

Kilgore, who had addresses previously listed in Newport and Norridgewock, was arrested Sept. 30, 2022, according to court records.

According to the law court’s decision, Merry, then of the Pittsfield Police Department, stopped Kilgore after seeing his vehicle speeding on Phillips Corner Road.

During the initial stop, Kilgore became frustrated as Merry questioned him about apparent restrictions listed on his driver’s license. Merry initially wrote a ticket for speeding, and then added another violation of operating without a valid certificate of inspection. That frustrated Kilgore more.

While Merry was standing next to the vehicle, Kilgore drove away and ran over her foot. Merry got back in her cruiser, pursued Kilgore and stopped him again.

When Kilgore refused to get out of the vehicle, Merry reached inside, and Kilgore then trapped Merry’s arms in his window while starting to drive multiple times. Merry was ultimately able to free herself.

She pursued Kilgore again, at speeds exceeding 100 mph, before calling off the chase. Merry later saw Kilgore’s vehicle in the area, and the two had a physical altercation as she tried to arrest him.

On the most severe count, Class B aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, the jury found Kilgore guilty of a lesser included offense of misdemeanor assault. The jury also found him guilty of Class C assault on an officer.

The jury found Kilgore not guilty of Class C eluding an officer, Class E driving to endanger, Class E criminal speed, Class E refusing to submit to arrest and Class E failure to sign violation summons and complaint.

Benson sentenced Kilgore to 42 months in prison, with all but nine months suspended, and two years of probation. His sentence was stayed, pending appeal.

The injuries Merry suffered in the incident ultimately ended her law enforcement career, according to prosecutors. As of last year’s sentencing, Merry reported still feeling pain and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Legally, I could have killed him,” Merry said in a sharply worded impact statement she read during Kilgore’s sentencing. “But, instead, I managed to arrest him.”

Merry said Tuesday that she is doing OK but is still struggling as a result of the case. She declined to say what she is doing for work now, asking to maintain some amount of privacy.

“It just hurts because I loved being a police officer,” Merry said. “I loved my job. I did it to the best of my abilities, and I did a damn good job.”

Merry said at 17, she joined the military and became a military police officer. After five years of service, she left the military in 2012 and started a career in civilian law enforcement, working as a court officer in Kennebec County, a corrections officer at jails in Kennebec and Somerset counties, a patrol officer for the Clinton Police Department and Somerset County Sheriff’s Office and a school resource officer. Merry said she had worked for Pittsfield for only about a month before she was injured in the incident with Kilgore.

“When people don’t condemn, they condone,” Merry said. “And by not condemning violence against police officers, it feels like a justification.”

Darrick X. Banda, an Augusta-based criminal defense attorney who represented Kilgore in his trial, said Tuesday via email he believed the jury wanted to return not guilty verdicts on all counts, but that jurors were confused by the instructions. That was based on feedback from one juror, he said.

Banda also said the case serves as an example of a poorly handled traffic stop and should be used as a case study in “how failing to use de-escalation techniques can exacerbate a situation to a point it doesn’t need to get to.”

He said Merry failed to understand license restriction classifications and failed to seek guidance from peers or supervisors who could have helped her understand the information she was getting from dispatch regarding the restrictions. And, he said, Merry unnecessarily and unlawfully delayed a traffic stop because of her misunderstanding.

“If she had done her job correctly, this would have been a case of a simple speeding ticket,” Banda wrote.

Asked whether she stood by her actions during the traffic stop, Merry said: “100%.”