Germaine Page, left, of Auburn speaks Monday with defense attorney Jim Howaniec before the start of Page’s attempted murder trial at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. A jury found him guilty Wednesday of the charge, as well as domestic violence charges in the June 2021 case. Andrew Rice/Sun Journal
AUBURN — Germaine Page on Wednesday was convicted of attempting to kill his former girlfriend last summer during an argument in their Ninth Street apartment.
Page, 43, was found guilty on all counts, including attempted murder, domestic threatening with a dangerous weapon and domestic reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.
Investigators said that during an argument with his former girlfriend on June 17, 2021, Page pointed a gun at her and fired a shot from a .380-caliber handgun. The shot missed and the woman was able to escape through a window and flee, police said.
Page fled into the woods after firing the shot but was captured by police a short time later, according to court documents. During his three-day trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court this week, his lawyer, Jim Howaniec, had argued that when Page fired the shot, he was trying to kill himself, not the woman.
The jury, unconvinced, convicted Page two days later. He was returned to the Androscoggin County Jail to await sentencing. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
During the opening day of the jury trial, the prosecution said the woman had been trying to end a relationship with Page for months. During her testimony on Monday, the woman said Page “wouldn’t leave” and that he had been violent in the past.
She said that when she returned from a 12-day trip to North Carolina on June 17, 2021, Page was waiting for her. He accused her of having an affair even though she said their relationship had been long over by then.
In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Katherine Bozeman said Page became “unhinged” upon the woman’s return. Bozeman said while the woman was traveling back to Maine, Page sent her about 177 text messages.
The prosecution portrayed Page as having planned his alleged crimes. Bozeman said Page had just acquired a handgun a week prior, and during her opening statement, said Page had told neighbors he was going to “smoke that bitch” and then kill himself.
According to reports, police were called to the Ninth Street area shortly before 10:30 p.m. the night of the shooting for a report of a domestic disturbance. The woman told police that when she returned home that night, Page had thrown her to the living room floor and stepped on her chest to hold her down. He appeared to be trying to load his gun and was telling her she was going to “die tonight,” according to a court affidavit. She was able to kick him in the groin and get to her feet before being pushed onto the couch.
“He then pointed the gun toward her head and pulled the trigger,” firing one bullet, according to the court document. A police detective wrote that the woman told police Page began to focus on the gun again as if it had jammed. She seized that moment to flee and climb out of a window in a back room of the apartment.
A police detective found a broken fingernail in the living room where the struggle apparently happened and located a spent shell casing for a .380-caliber gun on the living room floor under a dog’s bed, according to the report. He found what appeared to be a bullet hole in the living room wall behind the couch and noticed torn fabric on the couch that appeared to have been damaged from a bullet striking it before hitting the wall.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
