Only five years in prison for Morrill's Corner murder?
Plea deal for Outlaws biker Aaron Karp would free him by the end of this decade
The widow of the woman killed last summer during a melee in Portland’s Morrill’s Corner is expressing outrage over a plea deal that would keep the prime suspect in the murder case imprisoned for only four more years, at most. The man whom police allege murdered Susan McHugh in a Meineke parking lot on July 30, Aaron Karp, is believed likely to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a 15-year sentence with all but five years suspended.
Karp, a member of the Outlaws motorcycle club, has been imprisoned without bail since last summer, so the deal would free him by 2030 — or a year or more earlier, depending on his conduct behind bars. A hearing on the offer is scheduled for tomorrow morning in Cumberland County Superior Court. Karp’s attorney, Verne Paradie Jr., did not respond to a request for comment, but details of the deal were confirmed by multiple sources connected to the case.
“The plea deal that was arranged would have the person who murdered Susan out of prison in less than 5 years,” Troy McHugh wrote on social media earlier this month. “It’s disgusting to think that our Susan’s life is only worth 5 years of this [murderer’s] freedom.”
McHugh urged supporters to send victims’ impact letters to the court protesting the proposed sentence, and assured those who wrote that they could remain anonymous. “The family understands that some people feel unsafe if their name is made public,” he wrote.
The deadly confrontation in the auto-shop parking lot stemmed from an altercation earlier that day between two groups: longtime local FSU street-gang leader Bill Holmes, McHugh, and Travis Frechette, Susan and Troy McHugh’s son; and members of the Christian-themed Higher Calling motorcycle club, which was affiliated with the Outlaws. Holmes allegedly objected to the bikers wearing their club patches on the patio at Brookside, a restaurant and bar in Westbrook, and a fight ensued.
Following that fracas, Karp and about half a dozen other Outlaws confronted Holmes, Frechette and the McHughs in the Meineke parking lot, where Susan McHugh allegedly fired a pistol in an attempt to defend her husband, son and friend from attackers wielding what police termed “mini sledgehammers” and other weapons. Police and prosecutors say Karp fired nine shots in return, killing McHugh, and lesser changes were brought against six other Outlaws, including New Hampshire-based biker Kris Haken, who did time in that state for shooting a bystander during a brawl between Outlaws and Hell’s Angels in 2010. Haken is apparently still on the lam and Portland police have described him as “dangerous” and possibly armed.
Since The Bollard reported details of this story last summer, we’ve stressed the unique public safety threats spawned by this deadly dispute between FSU and the Outlaws and Higher Calling clubs. Cops and prosecutors are undoubtedly frustrated by a lack of cooperation by club members sworn to protect their brothers — and by the grainy surveillance video of the Morrill’s Corner attack, in which it’s difficult to identify the participants and the exact sequence of the violent acts. But the public has been frustrated by the cops’ unwillingness to share details about the case and their apparent indifference to the possibility these attacks mark the start of a citywide war of retribution between FSU and the biker clubs.
Although video at Brookside shows Holmes and others beating Higher Calling members, no charges have been filed against Holmes, who continues to frequent local restaurants and other public gathering places. With the exception of Karp and Susan McHugh, everyone alleged to have been involved in the attacks is a free man.
Holmes has declined to comment, but is said to have been trying to reach a peaceful resolution with higher-ups in the Outlaws organization, of which he was a member over 20 years ago. The prospect for a truce seems dim at present, sources say. Holmes suffered a serious skull injury during the Meineke attack, from either a bullet or a hammer, and Portland police were sufficiently concerned about his safety to post officers outside his hospital room, but let him walk out unprotected a couple days later.
Neither the Portland Police Department nor the office of Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris has taken any discernible steps to diffuse the threat of a gang war. To the contrary, the cops seem confused about the very nature of the dispute, repeatedly referring to FSU as a “motorcycle club,” despite the group’s origin and history in the hardcore punk scene, in which Susan McHugh was a show promoter.
Karp’s advocates are not entirely pleased with the proposed plea deal. One source close to him, who spoke to The Bollard on condition of anonymity, expressed belief that Karp could make a plausible self-defense argument based on allegations that Susan McHugh fired her weapon first. Karp’s camp is also said to be dumbfounded by the apparent unwillingness of police to file charges against Holmes and his cohort for the Brookside beat-down. So the bad blood between these notoriously violent groups continues to flow unabated.
UPDATE: Sure enough, Karp accepted the plea deal described above, a manslaughter charge, on April 10.