Courts and Crime

ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) _ The trial of a former Maine man charged with bashing his wife with a rock and pushing her off a cliff in Camden Hills State Park is winding down in a courtroom in Rockland.
 
    Closing arguments were planned Monday in the trial of 71-year-old Charles Black, who's charged with attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault.
 

LEWISTON, Maine — Police in Lewiston are investigating a reported armed robbery at a city convenience store.

The Sun Journal reports that the robbery at Lewiston Variety on College Street was reported at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

Police were questioning the lone employee on duty at the time.

No other details were immediately available.

The same store was robbed in April. A 28-year-old Livermore Falls man has been arrested in connection with that robbery.

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) _ State Police say a New York City man fired the shots that killed two men in Biddeford, Maine.
 
    Investigators said Friday that 34-year-old Fuquan Prince Wilson from the Bronx has a lengthy criminal record. They also said the shooting was drug related, and asked the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to join the investigation.
 

ROCKLAND, Maine — Prosecutors are continuing to present their case in the trial of a man accused of pushing his then-wife off a cliff in a Maine state park.

Charles Black is charged with attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault. Police say Black hit Lisa Zahn in the head with a rock before pushing her off Maiden Cliff in Camden Hills State Park in 2011. Black is a former Camden, Maine, resident who now resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.

NEWCASTLE, Maine — A Maine-based artist whose paintings are galleries nationwide faces child pornography charges.

Police say 58-year-old Robert Ransley of Newcastle was arrested at his home Wednesday and charged with possessing sexually explicit material of someone under the age of 12, a Class D misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

He has posted $1,000 bail.

Police say his computer was seized earlier this month and an analysis showed thousands of images of child porn. None of the images are believed to be from Maine.

MERRILL, Maine (AP) _ A man has been found and arrested nearly a week since police found a meth lab inside his house in the town of Merrill, Maine.
 
    Police have charged 38-year-old Micah Lawlor with two counts of trafficking methamphetamine. He and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Jessica Tremblay of Merrill, are both charged with burglary, theft and criminal trespass. They were arrested Tuesday at a remote camp in Merrill.
 
    Both have been taken to the Aroostook County Jail. It wasn't immediately known if they had lawyers.

PORTLAND, Maine — A Portland man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on crack cocaine trafficking charges.

U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said that Abdullahi Nur was sentenced in the U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney's office says that the 26-year-old regularly brought crack cocaine from Boston to the Portland area, where he distributed it. Drugs were seized during two traffic stops in 2011 in which Nur was involved.

ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) _ A Maine woman who police say was pushed off a cliff by her then-husband says their marriage was happy at first, but took a dark turn after they moved from Kansas to Maine.

WABI-TV reports Lisa Zahn, formerly Lisa Black, took the stand Wednesday in Rockland in the trial of Charles Black. He faces charges including attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault. Prosecutors say Black hit Zahn on the head with a rock before pushing her off Maiden Cliff in Camden Hills State Park in 2011.

FARMINGTON, Maine — A New Sharon teen has been indicted by a Franklin County grand jury for allegedly stealing $50,000 worth of cash and jewelry from a Wilton home.

Eighteen-year-old Brian Durrell was indicted this week on charges of burglary and theft following his arrest in May.

Police Chief Heidi Wilcox tells the Sun Journal a juvenile has also been arrested.

The homeowners reported the loss April 30 after returning from vacation.

AUGUSTA, Maine — A Gardiner man charged with killing and dismembering his father has been ruled incompetent to stand trial and will remain in a state psychiatric facility.

Leroy Smith III was scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge Tuesday in Kennebec County Superior Court in connection with the May death of 56-year-old Leroy Smith Jr. inside the apartment they shared.

But his defense attorneys asked a judge to postpone the hearing and their motion was unopposed by prosecutors.

He is being held at the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.

ROCKLAND, Maine — A Maine woman who police say was pushed off a cliff by her then-husband is scheduled to testify in the man's trial.

Lisa Black is set to take the stand Wednesday in the trial of Charles Black. He faces charges including attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault.

PHILLIPS, Maine — Maine police say they have dismantled two Franklin County methamphetamine labs and arrested four people on charges of selling the drug.

Officials say they shut down the two labs on Tuesday in Phillips and Farmington. Maine Drug Enforcement Agents say the state has shut down 17 labs this year. They say the most in one year is 20.

ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) _ Opening statements are set to begin in the trial of a former Camden resident accused of pushing his wife off a Maine cliff.
 
    Charles Black is charged with attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault. Opening statements will take place at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Jury selection was Monday.
 
    Prosecutors say Black hit his wife on the head with a rock before pushing her off Maiden Cliff in Camden Hills State Park in April 2011. Lisa Black survived. They have since divorced.
 

WATERVILLE, Maine — Police say an Illinois man who took a bus to Maine to meet a woman he met playing an online game concocted a story about being abducted to gain the woman's sympathy.

Police say 30-year-old Randolph Patriakeas, of Pana, Illinois, was discovered lying face down on a Waterville street at about 3:30 a.m. Monday. He was blindfolded and had scratches on his upper body.

DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — A Maine mother of 13 authorities say tried to hire someone to kill her husband has been sentenced to four months in jail.

Wendy Farley was ordered to serve four months of a 10-year sentence after entering an Alford plea on Monday in Piscataquis County Superior Court to a charge of criminal solicitation.

An Alford plea means while she doesn't admit guilt, she acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict.

Farley's trial on the charge in March ended in a mistrial.