FARMINGTON — A Carthage man accused last month of attempting to kill his girlfriend was arrested at the Franklin County jail Tuesday and charged with violating bail conditions by attempting to contact her.
Bennie T. Bowie Jr., 47, remained jailed Wednesday with bail set at $20,000 cash.
District Attorney Joshua Robbins said in court Wednesday that Bowie tried to communicate with his girlfriend through friends and family. Jail officers intercepted a letter in which a friend wrote that he found Bowie’s envelope and mailed it to Bowie’s girlfriend, according to court files.
Bowie is accused of cutting his 44-year-old girlfriend’s throat with a knife and repeatedly telling her to die either late Oct. 31 or early Nov. 1, according to a Franklin County Sheriff’s Department affidavit filed with the court.
The Wells Police Department arrested him Nov. 2 on a Franklin County warrant charging attempted murder and aggravated assault. Bail was set at $250,000.
Bowie has remained at the Franklin County Detention Center since.
The conditions of release set for the bail are still in effect, whether he is in jail or released on bail, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins said.
In a court appearance before Judge Nancy Carlson on Wednesday, done by video from Rumford District Court, Robbins also requested jail staff be allowed to review any incoming or outgoing mail for Bowie, except for verified correspondence from his attorney, Thomas Carey.
“This is a serious compromise of the judicial process,” Robbins told the judge. Whether it elevates to “serious tampering with the judicial process,” will be considered by a grand jury later this month, he said.
On Dec. 23, a Franklin County judge lowered bail from $250,000 cash to $25,000 cash or $100,000 worth of real estate, Robbins said after court.
A motion to revoke the bail change was filed Wednesday and a hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Jan. 15.
Meanwhile, Bowie is being held without bail.
According to police, Franklin County deputies went to Bowie’s mother’s home on Nov. 1 and found Bowie’s 44-year-old girlfriend who told them he cut her neck with a knife. She told police the two were sharing a camper trailer in Carthage on Oct. 31 and Bowie had consumed at least a dozen beers, vodka and used heroin.
They fought, he hit her in the face and she escaped to his truck. He poked her with a knife several times, slammed her head on the dashboard and got out. After she locked the doors, he reached through a window and cut her neck, according to police.
She underwent surgery at a Lewiston hospital.
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