Maine Bill would create alternative sentencing court specifically for veterans

Bill would create alternative sentencing court specifically for veterans

By Eric Russell, BDN Staff
Posted Jan. 31, 2012, at 5:03 p.m.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Last November, a day before Justin Crowley-Smilek was shot and killed by police, the 28-year-old Farmington native and U.S. Army Ranger who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder appeared before a judge.

Earlier that year, Crowley-Smilek was charged with assault and cultivation of marijuana. The judge, likely sensing that the young man’s diagnoses contributed to those crimes, ordered him to undergo a full psychological evaluation. His family said it was welcome news because they had been trying to get Crowley-Smilek help for months since his return from Afghanistan.

Crowley-Smilek never made it to that evaluation.

In a bizarre incident outside the Farmington police station, Crowley-Smilek approached an officer in a threatening manner while wielding a knife. The officer fired several shots, one of which killed Crowley-Smilek.
read more here


He wanted to die Thursday, November 24, 2011