More details emerge in shooting of Berlin man

CONWAY — More details surrounding a late-August shooting in Conway emerged at a court hearing last week, where the defense accused the Conway Police Department of overreaching with an attempted-murder charge.
Eugene William Menard, 31, of Conway, stands accused of shooting 23-year-old William Burke, of Berlin, early on the morning of Aug. 30, and Menard is facing charges of attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.
Police outlined the case against Menard at the Conway courthouse last Thursday when Judge Pamela Albee considered whether there was probable cause for his arrest.
Menard allegedly shot Burke in the penis, according to detectives, after a confrontation in parking lot near the intersection of Eastside Road and Route 16 in Conway.
Conway police detectives Suzanne Scott and Christopher Mattei outlined how Burke came to Conway from Berlin to settle a debt.
One witness told police "Mr. Burke owed him money," Det. Scott said on the stand, "and they went to the parking lot to settle it man to man."
Burke drove to the parking lot with his girlfriend, while the man he allegedly owed money showed up with three other men. One of them was Menard.
Burke and the four men got into a shoving match and were yelling at each other, the police officers said, but then Menard separated from the group and went to a dark section of the lot. Burke followed. Witnesses told police the two were still yelling at each other. One witness "said he heard a gunshot," Scott said, "he described it as a pop." Another witness told police he heard two shots, before a bleeding Burke came back to where the other three men and his girlfriend were yelling, "I just got shot in the balls."
Burke rode to Memorial Hospital in his girlfriend's car, police said, where staff dialed 9-1-1. He had been shot through the penis by a small caliber gun. Det. Mattei, who interviewed Burke before he went to Maine Medical Center, said he could not get many details from Burke about what happened.
Police were, however, able to figure out where the incident occurred. They went to the parking lot at the intersection of Eastside Road and Route 16 and found Burke's driver's license and blood. They also found the bullet that had passed through his penis.
The subsequent few hours of investigating pointed police to several residents of the White Deer Motel, which is just across Route 16 from the site of the shooting. One of the residents was Menard. Police had a perimeter set up around the building, Scott testified, when an officer saw Menard walking out of the nearby woods. Police arrested him, and officers began a search of the woods.
The search recovered a .38 caliber Colt handgun and a box of bullets, Scott said. The gun was wrapped in a rust-colored long sleeve L.L. Bean shirt later identified as Menard's by Menard's girlfriend.
Mattei said he interviewed Menard, and "he never denied any of the questions I asked him about being involved." At one point Menard turned off the recorder and promised to explain what happened if he could just call his girlfriend. Mattei said he allowed Menard to make the call, but when Menard returned he kept quiet. "If I tell you what happened," Mattei said Menard said, "I could go away for a long time."
The gun has been sent away to the state lab for testing, both detectives testified, as has a gunpowder residue test that was conducted on Menard's hand. The results are not back yet.
After the police had finished testifying, Menard's attorney Eric Wolpin challenged the state's decision to bring a charge of attempted murder. "There needs to be enough evidence to justify this," he said, adding that the state needs to prove Menard was trying to kill Burke, not just trying to hurt him, for the charge of attempted murder to be appropriate. There were no threats, no exclamations about wanting to kill anyone, no shots after the one that pierced Burke's penis and no shot directed at Burke's chest, head or heart, Wolpin said. "It has to be one's purpose to cause the death of another" for the charge of attempted murder to fit, he said, and that purpose was not present. "I believe this is an overcharge."
Carroll County has seen a string of attempted murder charges brought by the state that have not been successful, he pointed out. Every gunshot is not an attempted murder, he said, and there is not enough probable cause to justify the attempted murder charge.
"When you shoot someone with a gun, people can die," Conway prosecutor Janet Subers countered. "Thankfully, Mr. Burke did survive," but that could be thanks to the quick access to medical care. Menard was "luring" and "taunting" Burke, she said. "There is more than enough probable cause."
Judge Albee agreed, and the case was sent to superior court. Menard is being held without bail awaiting formal charges via a grand jury.