PARIS – A judge Monday kept bail for Everett E. Chase of Greenwood at $50,000 cash, despite his attorney’s request to lower it so he could be placed in a mental health facility.
Police arrested Chase, 45, of 24 Alcohol Mary Road last Thursday morning and accused him of kidnapping his estranged wife at gunpoint from her Rumford home and driving to Greenwood, where police caught him after they set up spike mats to pop his truck’s tires.
He has been in the Oxford County Jail since then on charges that also include terrorizing, burglary and attempting to elude police.
At 11th District Court on Monday afternoon, defense attorney Maurice Porter said Chase has been in a mental health crisis recently over family issues, and in the last two weeks, he has attempted suicide twice.
Porter asked that District Court Judge Ralph Tucker set bail low enough for Chase to leave jail and go to Spring Harbor Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Westbrook for people with acute mental illness and chemical dependency.
“He’s not receiving medications he normally would be getting,” Porter said. He also suggested that Chase might require another evaluation to adjust his medications.
Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne argued, though, that bail must remain high because Chase is desperate and dangerous because of divorce proceedings begun with his wife. Police had recently tried to serve Chase a protection order on behalf of his wife, he said.
“He pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her,” Beauchesne told Tucker. “He’s a desperate man. He had a firearm.”
He added, “A high cash bail is necessary to keep this from happening again.”
Beauchesne also pointed to Chase’s two previous felony convictions: burglary in the early 1980s and unlawful sexual contact with a minor in 1999.
Porter refuted the accusation that Chase’s wife was taken at gunpoint. “That was not the impetus for her going with him,” he said.
Porter asked for bail of $50,000 worth of property, which is the value of Chase’s real estate.
Tucker set property bail at $100,000.
If Chase is indicted by a grand jury, he will be arraigned April 20 in Oxford County Superior Court.
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