UPDATED: High bail stays in truck, knife assault

Brandon Henner points to his stab wound Monday inside the foyer of the Rochester District Courthouse. (Harrison Thorp photo)

Christopher Forcier

ROCHESTER - Two vastly different stories emerged in Rochester District Court on Monday during the arraignment of a Milton man charged with trying to run over then stab another Milton man on Townhouse Road in Milton, part of an ongoing feud between the two men over a female, acquaintances say.

Christopher Forcier, 31, arrested on Saturday on felony reckless conduct and assault charges, said during his videotaped arraignment from Strafford County Jail, that the victim, Brandon Henner, 35, jumped onto his truck bed and came through the rear truck window trying to assault him, a scenario Henner and his supporters vehemently deny.

Forcier, whose charges could result in up to 15 years in prison, asked to have a court-appointed attorney assigned to his case, which will next proceed to a probable cause hearing next month in Rochester District Court.

Tim Sullivan of the Strafford County Attorneys Office laid out the state’s case for a continued high bail, saying that it was Forcier, however, who instituted the incident. Sullivan said it was Forcier who stated, “I’m going to kill you” to Henner, then proceeded to back his truck up into him, causing Henner to be flipped onto the truck bed. Then, Sullivan said, Forcier took off at a “high rate of speed” and crashed his truck, causing Henner to fall through the rear truck window, after which he was stabbed in the abdomen.

Henner, meanwhile, was charged at the scene for violating bail condition for being in the proximity of Forcier after an altercation the two had on Jan. 1 at Forcier's home on Christopher Lane in Milton, according to Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss, who said the two have been feuding for some time.

Henner, of Ripley Lane, was charged with assault in the Jan. 1 incident.

Meanwhile, Milton Police developed information resulting in the execution of a search warrant at Forcier's home leading to a charge against him for possession of marijuana later that night.

Forcier and Henner were also reported to have skirmished on Champion Street in Lebanon on Jan. 2.

Henner showed The Lebanon Voice his scar inside the courthouse and described the knife used to inflict the damage was the type of knife hunters use to gut deer.

Krauss said the wound was checked out by medical responders at the scene on Saturday but required no treatment.

Forcier’s $10,000 cash bail was continued in light of a lengthy criminal record as indicated by Sullivan, including a 2011 conviction  of simple assault, a 2000 theft by unauthorized taking, plus a felony possession with intent to distribute arrest on Jan. 1.