Maine lobsterman on trial for shooting
The Associated Press
ROCKLAND — A trial has begun for a Maine lobsterman charged with shooting a fellow fisherman in the neck in a dispute over fishing territory in the lobster-rich waters off Matinicus Island.
Vance Bunker's trial got under way today in Knox County Superior Court in Rockland. The 68-year-old fisherman has pleaded not guilty to two counts of elevated aggravated assault, criminal threatening and reckless conduct in last July's shooting of Christopher Young.
Bunker's daughter, Janan Miller, is being tried at the same time on a reckless conduct charge for her role in the incident.
The shooting took place on a wharf on Matinicus, which is 20 miles offshore and is the most remote of Maine's 15 year-round island communities.
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8 COMMENTS
whoa said...
They were handling the situation just fine until the law showed up and made a big bruhaha over this. Now the lawyers are making money and wasting time in the court system.
March 8, 2010 at 11:21 AM Report abuse
ModerateOne said...
whoa, you mean that the "law" should ignore shootings? Should this apply to drug dealers also?
March 8, 2010 at 11:55 AM Report abuse
SacoSam said...
"I would have go away with it too if it wasn't for those pesky kids" -Old man after getting busted by Scooby and the Gang
March 8, 2010 at 12:16 PM Report abuse
SilentK_ said...
Nothing like lobster tails and a shot.
March 8, 2010 at 12:16 PM Report abuse
whoa said...
moderate, sure, why not? You obviously don't own a gun. Tide goes in,tide goes out. beats feeding them for 30 years.
March 8, 2010 at 2:47 PM Report abuse
jonbibber said...
A state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles from its baseline. The contiguous zone is a band of water extending from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to 24 nautical miles (44 km) from the baseline, within which a state can exert limited control for the purpose of preventing or punishing "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea". This will typically be 12 nautical miles (22 km) wide, but could be more (if a state has chosen to claim a territorial sea of less than 12 nautical miles), or less, if it would otherwise overlap another state's contiguous zone. However, unlike the territorial sea there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts, and the states in question must negotiate their own compromise. This island is 20 miles out -
March 9, 2010 at 6:29 AM Report abuse
TheCaptain said...
Ames and company should not be trying to beat up a 68 year old man on his own boat. Pepper spray didn't work- he has a right to defend himself and his daughter. Bunker is the same guy who went out one frozen night with two others and saved three men whose tugbot sank off Matinicus.
March 9, 2010 at 6:41 AM Report abuse
HARRY said...
Too bad these THUGS don't have time to fish anymore.
March 9, 2010 at 6:55 AM Report abuse