Chance M. Bellanceau submitted photo
PARIS — The initial court appearance of a Greenwood man accused of assaulting three sheriff’s deputies last week during a trespass complaint was postponed Tuesday over mental health concerns.
Chance M. Bellanceau, 29, appeared in Oxford County Superior Court via videoconference from Oxford County Jail.
Jeffrey Wilson, a South Paris attorney who represented Bellanceau on Tuesday for a scheduled initial court appearance, told Judge Tammy Ham-Thompson he had met earlier in the day with a mental health team at the jail and urged the judge to continue Bellanceau’s initial court hearing to Wednesday in order to “try and do some work” with him “to see if there are additional options (to) address possible crisis situations that may involve more mental health work.”
Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne told the judge that Bellanceau had been found not competent to stand trial in a criminal case in 2015.
“There are issues, and I think this makes a lot of sense,” to postpone Bellanceau’s initial court appearance for one day at which bail and other other matters regarding the case would be discussed, Beauchesne said.
Judge Ham-Thompson agreed to reschedule the hearing.
Because one of the charges Bellanceau is facing is a felony, his case likely will be presented to an Oxford County grand jury before he would be asked to enter pleas to the five charges that include: (felony) reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, refusing to submit to arrest and violation of condition of release.
He was being held at the jail until his Wednesday court appearance.
The judge asked whether she should order a mental evaluation of Bellanceau to determine his competency to stand trial.
Wilson said he planned to speak with Auburn attorney Justin Leary, who was appointed by the judge last week to represent Bellanceau, but was at trial in Auburn on Tuesday.
According to an affidavit written by Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Evan Rea, a resident of 339 West Bethel Road in Bethel called 911 to report a trespasser at her home Thursday night.
Deputy Rea responded to the home and found Bellanceau in the mudroom. Rea tried to follow him outside, but Bellanceau blocked his way, Rea wrote.
Rea ordered Bellanceau to lie on the ground, but he refused. The two grappled and Bellanceau slipped and fell “head-first” into a window, Rea wrote.
The two men fell to the ground, then Bellanceau fled into the home, Rea wrote.
He drew his handgun, radioed for backup and backed away from the mudroom, Rea wrote.
When Rea ordered Bellanceau to exit the mudroom, he began throwing items at Rea, including a circular saw blade that hit Rea’s handgun, damaging the gun’s light, he wrote.
Bellanceau exited the mudroom holding two shovels, which he also threw along with other items from the mudroom, Rea wrote.
The homeowner told dispatchers that Bellanceau had kicked in the door and had fled to the basement, Rea wrote.
Two deputies joined Rea at the scene. The three eventually encountered Bellanceau outside the basement’s exterior door, where he threw another item at them, Rea wrote.
Two of the officers used Tasers on Bellanceau, who fell to the ground, but still struggled against being restrained by the three officers, despite their commands, Rea wrote.
Eventually, Bellanceau was handcuffed.
One of the officers said he thought his hand might be broken, Rea wrote.
When other officers arrived to relieve the three deputies, Bellanceau was put on a stretcher and taken to a Norway hospital, Rea wrote.
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