AUBURN – Michael Heon claims he was afraid for his life when he blasted a bullet through the windshield of a car.

The single shot hit the neck of a woman who had recently rejected him and the shoulder of her boyfriend.

Heon, 46, of Davis Street, claims that the couple, Fernande Thibodeau and Richard Dehart, came after him on Nov. 1, 2003. He claims that Dehart had been harassing him for weeks.

During his sentencing hearing Friday, he testified that his decision to shoot at them as they sat in a car on Lexington Street was “his last resort.” Then he described the entire ordeal as an accident.

But Justice Ellen Gorman didn’t buy his story.

She told Heon that he was a “spurned suitor” who resorted to violence. Then she sentenced him to a decade in prison, followed by four years of probation.

“The act of shooting a shotgun into the windshield of an automobile on a public street in the middle of the day is about as serious of an aggravated assault that I can perceive,” she said.

Nightmares

According to police reports, Dehart and Thibodeau were driving from the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College on Westminster Street in Lewiston when they spotted Heon in his truck.

Dehart stopped to tell Heon to stop harassing them. Then Heon got out of his truck and walked toward Dehart’s car.

Heon was about 6 feet away when he raised a shotgun, pointed it at the car and fired, police said.

Dehart, 38, was struck in the shoulder and neck. Thibodeau, 52, was struck in the neck and ear.

Both survived the shooting. But they say their lives are no longer the same.

“He ruined my life. I have nightmares every night. I have anxiety attacks. I’m depressed,” Thibodeau said in court Friday. “I was hoping the courts would make an example out of this person, not just for me, for anyone who says no to someone.”

Dehart spoke about his physical and emotional pain.

“Hell, I’ve got half of my shoulder left. It hurts all of the bloody time,” he said. “I can’t watch TV because I can’t take the violence. I can’t sleep. I can’t be social. I’m scared to go out. I’m scared I’m going to lose my temper.”

That’s possible’

Heon was initially charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty in October to two counts of aggravated assault.

Arguing for a two-year prison sentence, Heon’s lawyer, James Burke, attempted to convince the judge that Heon was unlikely to commit another crime.

Burke described the midday shooting as “a wrongful and reckless attempt to protect himself.”

According to a police report, Heon and Thibodeau had both worked at White Rock Distilleries, near the shooting scene, and they were once friends. Problems arose when Heon started demanding more of a personal relationship from Thibodeau, police said.

At the time of the shooting, Dehart and Thibodeau were involved in a relationship and lived together. They told the judge that Heon had been driving by their home and leaving threatening notes.

Heon claims he was the one being harassed.

At one point during the hearing, Burke asked Heon if he intended to cause physical injury. Heon said, “No.” Then Burke asked him if he thought that he behaved recklessly.

“That’s possible,” Heon replied.

As conditions of his probation, Heon can have no contact with Dehart or Thibodeau and he cannot use alcohol or drugs. As a convicted felon, he will never be able to possess a gun.