AUGUSTA — A Lisbon man, whose 2010 trial conviction of attempted murder of Auburn police was later overturned, pleaded guilty Thursday to lesser charges.
Bartolo Ford listens in 2017 to testimony in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn during a hearing on his petition for a new trial. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file
A jury in 2010 found Bartolo Ford, now 62, guilty of aggravated attempted murder. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but nine years suspended, plus six years of probation.
Ford also was sentenced on six other crimes stemming from a prolonged nighttime police chase in 2008 that included him ramming police cruisers with a dump truck.
He later filed petition for post-conviction review of his case, in which he successfully argued his trial attorney had not allowed him to testify on his own behalf.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court eventually vacated Ford’s conviction in 2019 and sent the case back for a new trial.
By that time, Ford had already served his sentence.
After lengthy negotiation, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford pleaded guilty Thursday in Kennebec County Superior Court to six charges.
The aggravated attempted murder conviction was dismissed and replaced with a charge of attempted aggravated assault. He received a five-year sentence on that conviction.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of eluding an officer, two charges of aggravated criminal mischief and two charges of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.
His sentences on Thursday added up to nine years, which he’d already served. He will serve no additional time behind bars.
On Sept. 15, 2008, Ford led Auburn police on a high-speed chase after an officer approached and questioned him about concrete well tiles in the bed of Ford’s truck that the officer suspected had been stolen.
It ended when Ford crashed the dump truck into a stream.
During the chase, Ford repeatedly used his truck to ram pursuing police cruisers.
Two cruisers sustained serious damage and one officer was nearly struck by Ford’s dump truck, but escaped injury by moving moments before Ford drove his truck into the officer’s cruiser, according to court files.
When Ford refused to stop, he was fired upon by an officer. Ford was struck in his hip, which was shattered, according to court files.
Ford, wet and bloody, eventually surrendered to Maine State Police after crashing his dump truck into a small stream.
At trial, Ford’s attorney argued that he suffered from a mental abnormality, blaming post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from trauma suffered in the military during Operation Desert Storm and from injuries sustained in a car accident, according to court files.
Ford’s attorney had also argued that his prescription medications to treat his PTSD contributed to his mental abnormality.
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