Bar Harbor Man Found Guilty of Gross Sexual Assault After Two-Day Trial
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If you or someone you know needs support because of sexual violence, you can contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.
BAR HARBOR—On February 8, 2022, Kemar Sujay Buckley, 31, of Bar Harbor, was booked into the Hancock County Jail after having been arrested for two counts of gross sexual assault stemming from an incident that occurred on November 23, 2021, in Bar Harbor.
On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, following a two-day jury trail, Buckley was found guilty of one count of gross sexual assault.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by former Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Officer Ken Mitchell, the incident took place at a residence located on Eagle Lake Road in Bar Harbor.
On November 24, 2021, Officer Amie Torrey responded to the MDI Hospital and met with a 19-year-old woman who had just been seen by a sexual assault forensic examiner (SAFE) nurse after reporting that she had been sexually assaulted.
The woman told Officer Torrey that she had gone to the residence to see her friend, an 18-year-old woman, and when she arrived there were two males at the residence with her friend. One of these males was known to the victim as “Jay.”
According to the woman, “Jay” provided both women with alcohol and continuously refilled her glass as she drank. At some point in time later, “Jay” invited the her into a bedroom and she accompanied him there. The sexual assault occurred in the bedroom, the woman told Officer Torrey. She said she told him no and that he held her down by her throat.
According to the woman, when “Jay” got off her, she attempted to leave the room, but he grabbed her and sexually assaulted her again before stopping and exiting the room to go to the bathroom.
While “Jay” was in the bathroom, the other woman came into the bedroom and the victim told her that she had just been raped and that she wanted to go to the hospital. The other woman drove her to MDI Hospital.
During the course of the investigation, through social media investigation and other forms of identification, it was determined that “Jay” was Kemar Sujay Buckley.
After Buckley’s arrest for the charges of gross sexual assault (class A) and gross sexual assault (class C), he was bailed on February 9, 2022, for $10,000 cash bail. Buckley was indicted by a Hancock County Grand Jury on August 8, 2024 and had a two-day jury trial on December 16 and 17 where he was found not guilty of gross sexual assault (class A) and found guilty of gross sexual assault (class C).
After the trial, Buckley was released on the bail that was preexisting from his original arrest and is awaiting a sentencing date which has not been set.
In the meantime, Buckley’s attorney, Steven Juskewitch “made it known to the court that a motion for new trial and motion for acquittal would be filed.” Juskewitch also asked that attorney Rory McNamara be appointed as co-counsel. This request was approved by the Maine Commission on Public Defense Service on December 18, 2024. McNamara’s website says that he has won “an unprecedented number” of approximately 100, mostly, criminal appeals.
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Guys like this should be sentenced to 20 years. If he is not a US Citizen be deported.