BELFAST (AP) – A Brooks man was justified when he shot and killed a 60-year-old woman because she forced her way into his house with the intent of committing a crime, his lawyer says.

Jerome Reynolds II, 54, pleaded not guilty Monday in Waldo County Superior Court to a murder charge in the shotgun slaying of Janet Bacon, also of Brooks, on the evening of Sept. 29.

Bacon had been identified as the girlfriend of Jerome Reynolds Sr., 76, the defendant’s father, and the shooting occurred after she allegedly forced her way into the home on Purple Heart Highway and confronted the elder Reynolds.

Bacon was said to have argued with him earlier that evening after she learned that he had been playing cards with other women at the local senior citizens center.

To avoid further confrontation with Bacon, the elder Reynolds went to his son’s home. The two were watching a Boston Red Sox game on television when Bacon drove into the yard, sounded the horn repeatedly and then entered the home. She was unarmed and wore slippers and a hospital gown, according to police reports.

State police Detective Scott Bryant reported that the younger Reynolds ordered Bacon to leave and grabbed a shotgun from his closet when she refused. Bacon was shot in the face with a single blast from a 12-gauge, double barrel shotgun and died instantly.

Following the arraignment, defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein said state law permits the use of deadly force when someone trespasses on another person’s property with the intent of committing a crime.

Silverstein said Bacon had a history of barging into the homes of Reynolds’ family members and that police had been called to the home of his client’s son a few months before.

“The law gives you the right to use deadly force when you believe an individual to be committing a criminal trespass. He told her to leave. He needed to reasonably believe she was going to commit a crime in his house,” the lawyer said.

“In light of her history, I think he had ample basis to entertain those beliefs and thoughts as reasonable,” he said.

Reynolds, a mechanic with the state Department of Transportation, has been ordered held without bail at the Waldo County Jail while awaiting a Sept. 12 trial date.

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