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Five people who were present when James Sanders was shot have given conflicting accounts.

By TREVOR MAXWELL, Staff Writer November 20, 2009

PORTLAND — Two witnesses to a shooting in the Old Port last year lied to police about what happened.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Eli Cassidy told detectives that they saw James Sanders with a knife in the moments before Sanders was shot by Brandon Brown on June 24, 2008. Both men admitted in court on Thursday that they did not see Sanders with a knife.

Brown, 23, is on trial this week, charged with attempting to murder Sanders, a 28-year-old Marine sergeant who was paralyzed from the waist down by the gunshot. The shooting happened on Fore Street, in front of the Cactus Club.

Fitzpatrick testified Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning in Cumberland County Superior Court. Cassidy then took the stand.

Fitzpatrick said he lied to police to protect his friend, Brown. In exchange for his testimony this week, Deputy District Attorney Meg Elam granted Fitzpatrick immunity from any prosecution for lying to authorities.

Cassidy, who lived a few doors away from Brown at the time, testified that he incorporated Fitzpatrick's version of events in his own statement to police.

"In actuality, I never saw anyone with a knife," Cassidy said Thursday. "I was caught up in the assumption, caught up in the story."

Prosecutors say the shooting was motivated by revenge because Sanders, who worked as a bouncer at the Platinum Plus adult club, had thrown Brown out of that club months earlier.

Brown's lawyer has said that Sanders tackled and punched Brown just before the shooting. Brown shot Sanders because he believed Sanders was about to pick up a knife that was on the pavement, Sarah Churchill said in her opening statement on Wednesday. Brown feared for his life and acted in self-defense, Churchill said.

The trial is expected to run into the early part of next week, with Justice Thomas Warren presiding.

So far, five witnesses who were on Fore Street that night have provided their accounts of what happened. Some of those accounts differ dramatically.

For example, one of Brown's roommates at the time, Chase Fournier, testified that Sanders and at least one other man punched and kicked Brown after Sanders tackled him.

Nicholas Dambrie, an owner of another Old Port bar who was walking by the Cactus Club that night, said Sanders did take Brown to the ground but didn't throw any punches or kicks.

Sanders, who testified on Wednesday, had served one tour of duty in Iraq and two tours as a sniper in Afghanistan. He has been in a wheelchair since getting out of the hospital after the shooting. He moved to the Atlanta area to be closer to relatives.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com