February 8, 2017 — Every once in a while, a case comes along that serves as a reminder that Maine courts, like the state’s many law enforcement agencies, are a part of what is loosely called the justice system and that most of the people who work in the courts and law enforcement agencies want to see justice done.
Last week, Trenton lobsterman Jacob White found himself before Superior Court Justice Robert E. Murray facing a civil violation of the state’s marine resources laws for fishing without a lobster license last October. Also before the court was the state’s seizure of 156 pounds of lobster White landed at the Seal Cove wharf on the day Marine Patrol Officer Jeff Turcotte issued the summons for unlicensed lobstering.
White decided to fight the case, and, perhaps a surprise, he won.
“I take pride in being a good fisherman and an honest fisherman,” White told the judge.
Murray evidently agreed, dismissing the unlicensed fishing charge and ordering the state to pay White for his seized lobsters. Neither Turcotte nor his supervisor, Sgt. Troy Dow, seemed dissatisfied with the result.