PARIS — A Waterville man accused of stabbing a Buckfield man Monday night appeared in court Wednesday from jail.
Abdul-Rashad Bilal Oxford County Sheriff’s Office photo
Abdul-Rashid Bilal, 27, was charged with elevated aggravated assault.
The felony is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
Bilal appeared in Oxford County Superior Court by videoconference from Oxford County Jail in Paris, where he was taken after his arrest late Monday.
Bilal didn’t enter a plea to the charge Wednesday. In order for a felony charge to proceed to trial, a grand jury must hand up an indictment unless the defendant were to waive his right to the grand jury process.
Although Bilal was found to be eligible for a court-appointed attorney, Justice Jennifer Archer told him she didn’t have any attorneys available to represent him.
Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne told the judge that Bilal’s bail should be set at $10,000 cash.
Beauchesne asked that conditions of Bilal’s release include no contact with the stabbing victim, who was identified as Michael Johnson-Wynter, 37, of Buckfield as well as no contact with a witness to the alleged stabbing.
Beauchesne also asked that Bilal be prohibited from returning to the scene of the stabbing and that he be barred from having any firearms and dangerous weapons for which he can be searched at random.
Beauchesne noted that Bilal had been convicted of aggravated assault in 2022.
An attorney who represented Bilal only for his initial court appearance Wednesday said Bilal had lived in Maine for three years and his uncle lives in Maine.
Bilal was scheduled to begin working construction later this week in Skowhegan.
He was seeking $1,000 cash bail.
But Justice Archer agreed with the prosecutor that $10,000 cash bail was “appropriate under the circumstances in light of the arguments and in light of the affidavits that I read in support of the complaint.”
She also imposed all of the prosecutor’s requested bail conditions.
The Oxford County Sheriff’s Office received a call at 9:23 p.m. Monday reporting an adult male was stabbed after a fight. The suspect had fled the scene by the time authorities arrived.
Deputies provided aid to the stabbing victim, who was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for injuries not considered life-threatening, deputies said.
Following an extensive 30-minute search of the area, law enforcement located Bilal about a half-mile from the scene.
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