New York man’s bail set at $25,000 cash for Jay’s murder

FARMINGTON — A Franklin County judge has set bail at $25,000 cash for a New York man accused of shooting a Jay man in the leg. Tuesday in an apartment on Church Street.

Christian Meyers Franklin County Detention Center photo

After reviewing the case, the District Attorney’s Office charged Christian Meyers, 21, of Manhattan, New York, with one count each of aggravated assault, receiving stolen property, reckless handling of a firearm, and sexual assault of a minor. Convictions on these charges range from 364 days in prison to 30 years in prison.

The gun used in this case was stolen from an unlocked car on September 30 on Maxwell Road in Wilton, according to police.

Assistant District Attorney James Andrews asked that bail be set at $50,000 cash, and defense attorney Maurice Porter asked that bail be set at $10,000 cash. Andrews argued that Meyers was a flight risk because he fled after the shooting. Porter said Meyers has an aunt in Maine who is an attorney.

Meyers appeared in Farmington District Court via video from the Franklin County Detention Center. He has not entered a plea because there are three felony charges that require the case to be sent to a grand jury.

Meyers has no criminal record, Andrews and Porter said.

Porter said Meyers’ mother sent him to Maine about a month ago to look for land to buy.

A 28-year-old man living at 22 Church St. called police Tuesday to report he had been shot in the right groin, according to an affidavit from Jay Police Chief Joseph Sage.

When police arrived, he told them he went to the third-floor apartment at 25 Church St. to get money — more than $300 and less than $400 — he owed from the man who lived there. The victim said the man, later identified as Meyers, pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him. The victim was struggling for the gun when Meyers pulled the trigger and shot him in the leg near the groin area, according to the affidavit.

The victim was transported by ambulance to a Lewiston hospital with a single gunshot wound.

Porter’s attorney said Meyers told him he didn’t know the man who came to his apartment and that the man brought a gun with him.

Officers canvassed the area and located Meyers at an address on Bemis Street in Livermore Falls. He was in the company of a 14-year-old girl from Livermore Falls, whom Meyers called his girlfriend. According to the affidavit, Meyers gave the girl his backpack containing the loaded gun, and she took it home to listen to it.

Sage met with the girl and her father and provided Sage with a backpack and a gun, which she hid in the floorboards of her father’s room. The girl told Sage that Meyers told her the gun was in a backpack and he shot someone after pointing the gun at the man, who grabbed the gun and began fighting with him.

The girl was taken to the Jay Police Department, where she gave a statement about the incident and admitted to having a sexual relationship with Meyers. The girl also told Sage that she knew Meyers was 21 and Meyers knew she was 14 and that they had parental consent for the relationship, according to the police affidavit.