PORTLAND
Maine’s highest court has upheld a 52- year- old man’s attempted murder conviction for ramming a police officer’s cruiser with a dump truck during a chase.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday rejected Bartolo Ford’s appeal of his 2010 conviction.
During trial, prosecutors said Ford fled from Auburn police after they confronted him for some stolen concrete cylinders. They say he repeatedly rammed their cruisers with his dump truck during the chase. One of the officers shot Ford in the hip.
Ford’s lawyer blamed his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder and medications that caused him to have a sustained flashback to his military service during the Gulf War.
The supreme court rejected Ford’s argument that the trial judge should have instructed the jury on self-defense and intoxication.
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