Police: Man threatened to carjack woman while drunk

LYNN – A judge ordered a city man not to drink after the man’s attorney said his client was drunk and acting stupidly when he allegedly threatened to knock a random woman’s “(expletive) face off” if she did not let him in her car.”I rolled my window down a bit and asked him what he was doing,” the alleged victim wrote in a statement of the incident. “He told me to open the door or he would knock my ?(expletive) face off.’ I told him I was calling the police, and he then left.”Francis Murray, 44, of 159 Blossom St. #1, was arrested and charged with carjacking; at 10:47 p.m. Sunday.A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf at his arraignment in Lynn District Court Tuesday.Saugus Police responded at 10:28 p.m. Sunday to the area of Kane’s Donuts on the report of a possible carjacking. Officers found a man, later identified as Murray, sitting on a nearby brick wall, according to a report by Saugus Police Officer Stephen Rappa.”I asked Murray to explain what had happened, and it was obvious at this point that Murray was completely inebriated due to the fact that he was unable to form a coherent sentence,” Rappa reported.The alleged victim told police she had just pulled into the Richdale’s parking lot when a strange man approached and tried to open the rear driver’s-side door, according to court documents.Murray allegedly threatened the woman and walked away.The woman told police she was afraid her car was going to be stolen, according to the police report.Essex Assistant District Attorney Jacquelyn Kaplan requested Murray be held on $5,000 cash bail, citing a record with 18 guilty convictions.But court-appointed defense attorney Daniel Werner questioned the carjacking charge.”I’m sure it was scary for her; but putting someone in fear is not enough,” Werner said. He said that to be charged with carjacking, the defendant must have put someone in fear for the purpose of stealing the vehicle. Murray didn’t state he was going to steal the vehicle, simply that he wanted to get in, Werner said, citing the police report.Werner said Murray didn’t want to steal the car, he was “extremely drunk and acting in a stupid way.”Werner noted that, while long, Murray’s record also indicated he last defaulted on a court date in 2003. Werner requested a pretrial probation with weekly check-ins and alcohol tests and that the defendant remain alcohol-free while the charge is pending.Leoney accepted the defense recommendation and scheduled Murray to return to court June 12.