A jury convicted a man of attempted murder after he beat his girlfriend with a hammer.
Djvan Carter, 47, of Milford was convicted Thursday of aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, kidnapping and aggravated assault after a three-day jury trial in Penobscot County Superior Court.
On May 26, 2023, Carter hit his girlfriend multiple times in the head with a hammer, both at the apartment they shared and then in a car where police could see them. The beating ended after Carter drove the car at a Maine State Police trooper, who then shot him in the chest.
The Bangor Daily News does not name victims of domestic violence without their permission.
There was “extreme torture” during Carter’s attempted murder, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said. That means Carter may be sentenced to life in prison.
The day of the attack the woman was left “fighting for her life” as Carter threatened to kill her, Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Lynds said during her opening statement. He attempted to strangle the woman and then chased her across her lawn as she tried to escape.
Once he caught her, he dragged her into a vehicle and “beat her in the skull with that hammer over and over again, even as the police arrived to save her life,” Lynds said.
Carter then drove to Argyle Road in Alton. Two Maine State Police troopers found Carter and the woman in a car and told them to leave the car. Neither left the vehicle and Carter accelerated his vehicle at police. Cpl. Blaine Silk fired seven shots into the car, shooting Carter in the chest.
The Maine attorney general’s office found Silk was justified in his actions in December 2023.
Carter’s sentencing date is not yet scheduled. He is held in the Penobscot County Jail.
