A 19-year-old man accused of being the getaway driver in the attempted murder of two men at a South Portland recreational complex pleaded not guilty Thursday to five charges and was allowed to remain free on $30,000 cash bail.
John Albert Janums, formerly of Portland and now of Falmouth, was the last of four men to appear in court to face charges in the shooting of one man and stabbing of another. The attacks happened on March 11 in the Wainwright Recreation Complex parking lot on Gary L. Maietta Way in South Portland.
The other three men – Zachary Swain, 19, of Cape Elizabeth, Essa Sayed, 18, of Portland, and Noah Sibole-Little, 19, of Portland – were arrested shortly after the attack, which police said concerned a drug deal involving “a relatively small quantity of marijuana.”
Janums was identified by police much later than the others and was indicted this month by a Cumberland County grand jury on two counts of attempted murder and one count each of robbery, elevated aggravated assault and aggravated assault.
Janums, dressed in a dark suit, appeared in the Cumberland County Courthouse with his mother and stood beside his attorney, George Hess, during the brief proceeding before Justice Nancy Mills. He spoke only to enter not guilty pleas and to answer a yes or no question from the judge.
Swain, Sayed and Sibole-Little appeared in court Tuesday. They have each pleaded not guilty to the same charges as Janums and are being held on bail while their cases are pending.
Assistant District Attorney Angela Cannon, who is prosecuting the case, said all four suspects went to the complex in a car driven by Janums after arranging to buy marijuana from 19-year-old Colin Harle of South Portland.
“All of the co-defendants discussed what was going to happen on the way to the drug deal. Mr. Swain said he was not going to go through with the sale. Nobody had any money,” Cannon said.
Cannon said Janums made a statement to police after they identified him, initially from a convenience store surveillance video and later through investigation. He told them Swain planned to use a knife in the robbery, but that he didn’t expect Swain to stab anyone.
“I think Mr. Janums expected that Mr. Swain would use the butt of the knife,” Cannon told the judge. “What happened instead is Mr. Swain used the knife to stab Mr. Harle. … He nearly bled to death.”
In the robbery, police alleged that Swain stabbed Harle in the back, cutting his kidney, and then fired a gunshot through a window of Harle’s car, striking the second victim, 19-year-old Ian Soule of South Portland. The window slowed the bullet enough that Soule was not seriously injured. Harle was hospitalized at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Mills set Janums’ bail at $30,000 cash with conditions including that he have no contact with the victims or his co-defendants, that he live with his grandmother and abide by a curfew. Janums’ mother posted the bail.
In an affidavit filed to obtain arrest and search warrants, South Portland police Detective Jake Hall outlined what victims told police about the attacks.
Harle had arranged to sell marijuana to a man he knew only as “Yung Savage” using a mobile texting application called “MeetMe.” He said in the affidavit that he asked Soule to ride along as he drove to the sports complex in his Ford Mustang.
Once there, Harle got out and began talking to “Yung Savage,” later identified by police as Swain. Soule watched as the talking turned to fighting and another man smashed the passenger window of the Mustang and took the marijuana from the seat, the affidavit said.
Soule told police that he got into the driver’s seat of the Mustang after the fighting started to try to get away.
“Soule said that he then heard a gunshot and felt that he was struck in the chest. Soule said Harle was able to get away from the men and get back into the car. Harle was spurting blood from his back at this point. Soule said he heard another gunshot but was able to drive out of the sports complex parking lot and get to the hospital,” Hall said in the affidavit.
The charges of attempted murder, robbery and elevated aggravated assault are each punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Aggravated assault is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:
Twitter: @scottddolan
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.