Milton man hit with more charges in assault case

Christopher Forcier (Police photo)

MILTON - The Milton man arrested last month in an assault on another Milton man over a girlfriend now faces an additional charge of being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.

Christopher R. Forcier, 31, of Christopher Lane, was charged on the weapons possession on Jan. 22.

Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss said the weapon, a 22-caliber rifle, was found as police executed a search warrant at his residence back on Jan. 1, the day on which Brandon Henner, said to be the girlfriend’s former boyfriend, allegedly assaulted Forcier in his home.

While standing in the vestibule of Rochester District Court, Brandon Henner points to alleged stab wound after Christopher Forcier's arraignment last month. (Lebanon Voice file photo)

Several hours after Henner was arrested police obtained a search warrant for the residence and returned to find about four ounces of marijuana and the rifle, said Krauss. Forcier was convicted of felony theft in 2000, leading to the latest charge.

Forcier’s charges in connection with an alleged assault on Henner on Jan. 11 have already been bound over to Strafford Superior Court for possible indictment, while the drug and weapon charges have been joined and will get an airing at a probable cause hearing later this month.

The Jan. 11 assault allegedly took place near the intersection of Vachon Driver and Townhouse Road in Milton when police say Forcier tried to run down Henner after spotting him near a mailbox with some friends. Police allege Henner jumped to avoid being hit by Forcier’s truck and fell into the truckbed, then fell through the truck’s rear window after it crashed. It is alleged Forcier then stabbed him.

A small red welt was discernible when Henner showed the wound to The Lebanon Voice at Forcier’s arraignment on the assault charge, but no treatment was requested the day of the incident. The knife was never found.

Forcier and his public defender Cynthia Robinson have painted a far different picture of the assault near Vachon Driver, saying at a Jan. 22 probable cause hearing that it was Henner who was the attacker, not Forcier.

Forcier is currently free on $10,000 cash bail.

Henner, 35, of Ripley Lane, was arrested at the scene of the Townhouse Road incident for violating bail conditions for being in close proximity to Forcier.

Henner also was arrested for stalking on Jan. 9 and will be arraigned on that charge next week.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to the misdemeanor simple assault charge stemming from the Jan. 1 incident and paid a $310 fine, after much of it was suspended pending a promise of good behavior for one year.