Salisbury attack suspect requests bench trial

Dave Rogers, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·2 min read

Apr. 8—SALISBURY — A Cable Avenue man charged with stabbing an acquaintance with a hypodermic needle in February waived his right to a jury trial Wednesday and asked for a Newburyport District Court judge to decide his fate.

Douglas S. Plourde, 35, was arraigned in late February on charges of assault and battery with a hypodermic needle, assault and battery of a family/household member (two counts), threatening to commit a crime (murder) and intimidating a witness. The charges stem from multiple incidents, according to court records.

Plourde was arrested on a warrant after a car crash in Amesbury. When arrested, he was facing a heroin/fentanyl possession charge in Lawrence District Court.

He has remained in custody since his arrest after a Newburyport District Court judge deemed Plourde too dangerous to the alleged victim to be afforded bail while awaiting trial. Even without being found dangerous, Plourde would still be behind bars after Judge Allen Swan revoked his release on the Lawrence District Court charge.

Plourde stabbed the woman with a hypodermic needle Feb. 8 following an argument, according to court records. She was forced to seek medical attention and undergo testing.

Days later, the two got into another violent argument, prompting the woman to call for help, but Plourde grabbed her phone and smashed it. About the same time, Plourde threatened to "put a bullet" in her father's head.

Court documents say the woman purposely smashed her car in Amesbury after Plourde "held a knife up to her during the driving which resulted in the crash, and prior to crashing was screaming at her and driving erratically in the car," Salisbury police Sgt. Jim Leavitt wrote in his report.

At the hearing Wednesday, Plourde's attorney told Judge Peter Doyle that the woman "recanted" much of what happened Feb. 8, saying she "exaggerated things" and admitted she was unsure if he stabbed her on purpose.

The attorney asked Doyle to release Plourde while awaiting trial, saying the woman's safety could be assured by Plourde being placed under house arrest and forced to wear a GPS unit around the clock.

Doyle denied the request.

The attorney then asked Doyle to allow Plourde to waive his right to a jury trial so he could resolve the matter faster. Ever since COVID-19 restrictions were enacted in March 2020, there have been no jury trials in Newburyport District Court. Court officials say it could be months before jury trials resume there.

Doyle granted Plourde's motion for a bench trial and scheduled it for May 5.

During the same hearing, an Essex County prosecutor told Doyle that Plourde could be indicted by a Salem Superior Court grand jury, moving the case to the higher court.

Staff writer Dave Rogers can be reached at drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.

Recommended Stories

  • Kim Kardashian West joins billionaires' club

    Forbes business magazine adds the US reality TV star to its list of the super-rich.

  • Virgin Voyages moves cruise line debut to England, canceling sailings in US waters

    Virgin Voyages is the latest cruise line moving sailings abroad as the timeline to resume cruising in U.S. waters remains unclear.

  • Vadim Nemkov is the Bellator MMA light heavyweight tournament favorite, according to Scott Coker, but the most anticipated bout will be in the first round

    Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker says his fighter Vadim Nemkov is the best light heavyweight in the world, including those competing in the UFC.

  • Brandon Lewis heads to Northern Ireland for emergency talks after 55 police injured amid loyalist unrest

    Brandon Lewis is due to hold emergency talks with Northern Ireland’s political parties on Thuraday in a bid to quell the violent unrest among loyalist groups. The Northern Secretary is travelling to Belfast after the Stormont Assembly was recalled to hold an urgent debate in the wake of a sixth consecutive night of rioting in the province. Whitehall sources said Mr Lewis would urge the parties to try to diffuse tensions and put on a united front, after days of highly-charged political debate between rival politicians. However, Labour has called for Boris Johnson to “step up” and take personal charge of the talks, adding: “The Prime Minister must convene cross-party talks in Northern Ireland, and engage with the joint-custodians to the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish Government to find solutions and resolve tensions.” It comes after Mr Johnson on Wednesday evening issued a further statement condemning the violence, after a bus was set on fire by groups of hooded men in Belfast and a photographer was assaulted while recording scenes of disorder in the city. Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland executive have released a joint statement condemning the violence, with First Minister Arlene Foster describing the scenes across the province as “totally unacceptable.” So far 55 police officers have been injured during clashes across Northern Ireland with groups, largely comprising adolescents, who are said to have been spurred on by paramilitary groups. Mr Lewis is expected to urge the main political parties to try to resolve tensions which erupted last week after the decision not to prosecute 24 members of Sinn Fein, including deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill, who attended an IRA funeral in an alleged breach of lockdown rules. While Mrs Foster has accused the Police Service of Northern Ireland of undermining the rule of law and called for the resignation of the chief constable, critics have sought to blame the unrest on the DUP’s inflammatory language. Others have attempted to characterise the violence on Brexit and Boris Johnson’s failure to spell out the implications of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the trade disruption that has resulted in the wake of the transition period. They included Stephen Farry, the deputy leader of the Alliance Party, who dismissed Mr Johnson’s appeals or calm as “platitudes”, telling Times Radio: “Brexit has set the tone...which has destabilised Northern Ireland very badly.” He was joined by Colum Eastwood, the leader of the Socialist Democratic and Labour Party, who told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme that while he was “outraged” by Sinn Fein’s behaviour the tensions were also a “ direct result of a British Prime Minister who has lied to the unionist people of Northern Ireland.” However, Lord Caine, a former special adviser to multiple Northern Ireland secretaries, pushed back against the suggestion that Brexit was the sole cause of the latest unrest. He pointed to the role of paramilitary groups who he warned were stoking divisions and exploiting young people within loyalist communities, adding: “It would be wrong to attribute what has happened simply to Brexit and the protocol.” “To a large degree paramilitary activity is often the cloak simply for the sort of criminality, racketeering and exerting control within communities by people who essentially wrap themselves in the flag and carry out gangsterism. “So it's not just about politics but obviously there is a political dimension to this. There is widespread angst within the Unionist community over the implementation of the protocol.” Speaking in the Stormont Assembly on Thursday morning, Mrs Foster said: "Today is not the time to rehearse the arguments in the last few weeks. We should all know that when politics are perceived to fail, those who fill the vacuum cause despair. "Northern Ireland faces deep political challenges ahead." Deputy First Minister and Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill added: "I think it's incumbent upon us all as Assembly members, as political leaders to meet and to publicly express our deep concern at the recent violence and ongoing street disorder," she said. Ms O'Neill described the scenes in Belfast as a "very dangerous escalation of events in recent days, and it is utterly deplorable". She said she had spoken earlier with PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, who also briefed a special meeting of the Executive on the police response.

  • Report: Former NFL player Phillip Adams named as suspect in deadly South Carolina shooting

    Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife and two grandchildren were among those killed in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A source names former NFL player Phillip Adams as the suspect.

  • Mads Mikkelsen makes heartbreaking journey with 'Another Round'

    Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen says his new movie "Another Round" became the most important thing he had ever done following the death of director Thomas Vinterberg's daughter four days after shooting began in 2019. Mikkelsen has been nominated for a best leading actor BAFTA for the movie and Vinterberg for a best director Oscar. Vinterberg's daughter Ida, who was due to make her acting debut in "Another Round", died in a car accident, aged 19, as filming commenced.

  • Five, including doctor and his two grandchildren, killed in South Carolina shooting

    Authorities identified the victims as Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife, their grandchildren and a man working at the home.

  • Lavrov says US policy towards Russia is 'dumb,' ineffective

    Russia's top diplomat on Thursday described U.S. policy toward Moscow as “dumb” and warned that his country will retaliate if Washington imposes new sanctions. Asked about the prospect of new sanctions from Washington, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that all attempts to pressure Russia are bound to fail. “Such actions have taught us one thing: We need to rely on ourselves because the U.S. and its allies aren't reliable partners,” Lavrov said on a visit to Kazakhstan, adding that “naturally, we will respond to any unfriendly steps.”

  • Who was Phillip Adams? Former NFL player identified as suspect in Rock Hill shooting

    Phillip Adams spent six seasons in the NFL after attending South Carolina State University.

  • 62 details you probably missed in all of the 'Twilight' movies

    The vampire book series-turned film franchise was all the rage when it premiered, but even die-hard fans may have missed these gems and mistakes.

  • Khloe Kardashian: Pressure and ridicule over image 'too much to bear'

    Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian explains why she tried to get an unfiltered photo taken off the web.

  • Trump exploded at a staffer for telling him the wrong names of his golf partners, John Boehner says in his memoir

    Trump once flew into a rage at one of Boehner's staffers with "real anger," showing an explosive temper long before he became president, Boehner said.

  • An ex-Fox News host walked out a BBC interview after clashing with a Black activist over Georgia's restrictive voting laws

    Commentator Aisha Mills claimed Eric Bolling was faking his concern for Black businesses, and he was not pleased.

  • Europe's COVID vaccine fiasco continues

    Just when it appeared as if Europe’s much-criticized COVID vaccination roll-out might finally be getting on track, new cases of the virus have skyrocketed, curfews and lockdowns have been reinstated and questions about the safety of some vaccines have led to an atmosphere of restive uncertainty across the continent.

  • The Money Monster Mitch McConnell Created Finally Turned On Him

    Samuel Corum/GettyIt turns out that Mitch McConnell doesn’t actually think corporations are people or that money is speech if the companies in question aren’t speaking his language. Instead, he warned them to “stay out of politics,” since they “invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs.” Uh huh.Mitch, who then tried to step away from his remarks since "I didn't say that artfully," is mad because large employers in Georgia eventually got around to responding to a voter suppression law there that may as well have been authored by Lester Maddox. The companies came out for the controversial proposition, in GOP circles, that every American should have the right and opportunity to vote.And that isn't what McConnell signed up for as he spent the past three decades waging war on behalf of unregulated corporate cash’s "right" to corrupt our democracy. What he meant, as anyone who's watched his incredibly destructive career knows, is that those corporations were welcome to bestow wheelbarrows of cash upon Republicans, to relieve him of the burden of having to actually develop policy ideas to improve Americans' lives and get around the fact he's a charisma event horizon.The Christian Right Mastermind Behind Citizens United Says It’s Good for DemocracyThat money also helps him buy off Senate Republicans, who just happen to be the electorate for Republican leader. It’s allowed McConnell to have a Senate career one might consider a tribute to Seinfeld, in that it's been about absolutely nothing. Except power. As long as corporations paid up and shared opinions he liked—low taxation, deregulation, free trade—Mitch was more of a "speak up, fair CEO's" kinda guy. The problem is that as our culture began to change, corporations did too.Some companies were suddenly helmed by leaders who believe in such crazy concepts as LGBTQ rights, equal pay and racial equality. Or at least knew to publicly support these precepts to appeal to their customer bases. On those issues, as far as McConnell's concerned, you can spend the night, but just leave your check on the nightstand before heading home. No talking.To be fair, McConnell’s been principled in that position—that corporate donations are good only insofar as they’re good for McConnell—for as long as he’s been in politics, as Alec MacGillis details in The Cynic: The Political Education of Mitch McConnell. In 1973, McConnell published an op-ed favoring partially publicly financing campaigns and setting limits on spending.By 1987, Senator McConnell "sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to limit independent expenditures on campaigns and on candidates' use of personal funds for their own races." (McConnell, at that time, was far from wealthy).By 1990, he was pushing to ban political action committees. This just happened to be at a time when Democrats had had ironclad control of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly four decades, so PACS gave more to Democrats than Republicans. It happened to McConnell in his first Senate race in 1984. The incumbent Democrat he ousted, Walter "Dee" Huddleston, was favored by PACS, to the chagrin of McConnell.But that would change once Mitch mastered the art of the shakedown. He came to oppose all campaign finance reform, challenging FEC rulings and filing amicus briefs challenging any contribution limits that might end up in front of the Supreme Court. In this way, he was a driving force behind Citizens United.Yet, if you think this carried over to his thinking on actual corporate speech, the kind that exits from the mouth and not the wallet, think again. From a piece I wrote back in 2004 on then-Senate Whip McConnell:McConnell also knows how to use threats. When a group of Republican senators signed onto a campaign-finance reform measure in the late ‘90s, McConnell, in his position as NRSC chair, advised them that they could expect no electoral support from the committee unless they switched their position. At least one, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) did so after receiving McConnell’s warning. Then in 1999, when the Committee for Economic Development (CED)—a trade group representing large corporations—announced its support for a ban on soft money, McConnell wrote a furious letter, on NRSC letterhead, to leaders of companies belonging to CED, denouncing the group’s “all-out campaign to eviscerate private-sector participation in politics,” and urging them to quit the organization. “I hope you will resign from CED,” he scribbled at the bottom of one copy. Many recipients of the letter saw in it an implicit threat that, unless they withdrew from CED and stopped supporting reform efforts, their companies would receive unfavorable treatment from Congress.Which brings us back to McConnell's supposed support for money in politics based on the First Amendment or some other such principle. This isn’t that. McConnell has no issue with the MyPillow guy ranting about a coup or the Goya CEO supporting sedition. But he has a big issue with corporate actors speaking out in favor of voting rights. Because, as 2020 showed, McConnell's party is mostly talking to the Fox News "I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up" demographic, not those who reject an America of transgender bans, stand your ground, and testifying fetuses.Companies that create things need an educated workforce, which increasingly means Democratic and socially tolerant. And they must appeal to consumers with disposable income who actually buy stuff. Needless to say, these folks tend not to reside in what you'd call "the Hannity demographic."So Mitch doesn’t want these companies to talk. But as Georgia has proven, they're going to anyhow, because the alternative is alienating their customers, and no amount of crazy GOP tweets suggesting major league baseball is is an offshoot of the “China Virus” that makes its players do double headers reading Dr. Seuss will change that fact.What this all means is that Mitch is finally reaping the whirlwind of the corporate speech he was so keen to unleash on our politics back when it benefitted him and his party.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Millions Locked Down Again as Canada Rues Vaccine Failure

    Blair Gable via ReutersBack in December, before the COVID-19 variants changed the course of the pandemic, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau bragged that he had procured enough potential vaccines to protect a population four times the size of Canada. But four months later, not even two percent of Canada’s population of just under 38 million is fully vaccinated and large swaths of the country are going back into lockdown thanks to a brutal third wave. Canada has logged nearly one million cases and 23,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Trudeau had hoped to get the population vaccinated by June but now says all Canadians who want a vaccine will get one by the end of September. Canada is one of the only large economies in the world that did not attempt to manufacture its own coronavirus vaccine.Meanwhile, the variants are taking hold. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a stark warning that even fully vaccinated Americans should avoid travel to Canada. And if they do go for essential purposes, they should be tested three to five days upon return. “This isn’t the news any of us wanted, but hospitalizations are surging, ICU beds are filling up, variants are spreading and even people who had convinced themselves they didn’t need to be concerned are getting sick,” Trudeau said at a news conference Tuesday. “Even if the sun is shining and the weather is getting warmer, COVID-19 isn’t done with us yet,” he said, calling the third wave of the pandemic “very serious.”More troubling still is that most of the new cases being seen in the hospital’s intensive care units are increasingly younger patients, according to Canada’s top health expert. “While COVID-19 continues to impact people of all ages in Canada, infection rates are highest among those aged 20 to 39 years of age,” Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in a statement Wednesday. “As well, we are seeing an increased number of adults, under the age of 60 years being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, including in intensive care units.”So how can a country that had ordered more vaccines per capita than anywhere else in the world now be in such trouble? Canada doesn’t produce any vaccines in its territory—either creating their own or manufacturing others—and the imported doses simply haven’t been delivered. Canada’s government-owned vaccine manufacturer was privatized in the 1980s and eventually bought by the French company Sanofi, whose own vaccine efforts have faltered. Trudeau announced last week that finally Pfizer will start delivering one million doses a week after the U.S. freed up exports now that it is clear there is enough supply for Americans first. AstraZeneca has also promised to deliver 20 million of its increasingly controversial vaccine, which should also help kick-start the painfully slow rollout. Moderna and Johnson and Johnson are also approved for use in Canada, but they have yet to be delivered in any sizeable quantity.Trudeau has been under fire by angry Canadians after admitting early on that the country would not be first in line for any vaccines because they weren’t producing any locally. Then when the EU put the clamp on vaccine exports, Canada once again paid the price in missed deliveries. The Biden administration has not yet committed to any exports to Canada or Mexico, both suffering from shortages. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • AP source: NFL player Phillip Adams killed 5, then himself

    The gunman who killed five people including a prominent doctor in South Carolina was former NFL player Phillip Adams, who killed himself early Thursday, according to a source who was briefed on the investigation. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly, said Adams' parents live near the doctor's home in Rock Hill, and that he had been treated by the doctor. The source said Adams killed himself after midnight with a .45-caliber weapon.

  • Bills' Allen: vaccine decision should be personal choice

    Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is still debating whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and believes the decision be left to a personal choice. Allen shared his views during an hour-long interview on The Ringer podcast hosted by Kyle Brandt on Wednesday, when asked about the NFL not mandating its players be vaccinated. Allen’s comments come at a time President Joe Biden pushed up a deadline to April 19 for states to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccines, while warning Americans the nation is not yet out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic.

  • Texas man gets warm welcome at Disney World — after a 2,800-mile run from Disneyland

    “Epic is for everyone.”

  • Floyd ‘drugs’ comment at issue in Chauvin trial

    The defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer on trial in the death of George Floyd has tried to show that Floyd yelled “I ate too many drugs” as officers pinned him to the ground.  (April 7)