AUGUSTA —An Augusta man shot multiple times in the head with a pellet gun while he was attacking another man was sentenced to serve nine months in jail on an assault charge for cutting him with a knife as the two fought.

Jacob J. Gordon

Jacob J. Gordon, 31, also pleaded guilty to domestic violence assault and violating conditions of release charges, for pushing a woman to the floor while he was out on bail.

He was sentenced Friday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta to five years imprisonment by Justice William Stokes, with all but nine months of that term suspended. He  entered an Alford plea, which means a defendant pleads guilty but does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. Gordon said in court he agreed the state could have possibly found him guilty on the charges if the case went to trial.

On April 22, 2019, Augusta police responded to a report of a fight at the Edwards Inn on Water Street involving a knife and a gun, which police later determined to be a pellet gun. When they responded, according to Assistant District Attorney Tyler LeClair, officers found Gordon covered in blood from his head to his waist, bleeding from pellet-sized holes in his head.

LeClair said the victim in the case opened the door to his apartment while Gordon was outside yelling and swearing. The man had armed himself with a pellet gun and a Ka-Bar knife.

Gordon attacked the man and, in the ensuing struggle that moved into the apartment, Gordon gained control of the knife and cut the man, causing a laceration LeClair described as superficial. As the two fought, LeClair said, the victim shot Gordon with his pellet gun at least eight times. Police indicated Gordon was intoxicated.

The man who shot Gordon with the pellet gun was not charged, according to Augusta police Sgt. Jesse Brann, because he was acting in self-defense.

Gordon was initially indicted on a charge of aggravated assault for the incident involving the knife, but that charge was dismissed and replaced with a lesser charge of assault as part of the plea agreement.

LeClair said the domestic violence assault and violating conditions of release charges stem from a Jan. 28 incident, also in Augusta, in which Gordon assaulted a woman while he was out on bail for the previous charges.

If that case went to trial, LeClair said witnesses would testify Gordon pushed a woman, who fell onto the floor, and got on top of her and held her down, after he became angry with her for calling an ex-boyfriend on her phone. LeClair said Gordon insisted there had been no physical altercation with the woman, but admitted he was angry that he had found the woman’s ex-boyfriend’s number on her phone.

Gordon’s attorney, Lisa Whittier, said they believed the incident was “sort of a mutual combat situation,” but that if the case went to trial it was likely the state could prove its case.

Stokes said the domestic violence assault charge would have been a misdemeanor, but was raised to a Class C felony because Gordon has two previous domestic violence assaults on his record.

Gordon was also sentenced to two years of probation, with conditions including that he have no contact with the victims in either case, attend domestic violence court, and undergo substance use treatment.