More than three years after he allegedly assaulted a checklist supervisor in Windham, a former state representative and town selectman will face a trial for felony assault of a town officer.

Christopher Doyle, 30, of Windham, is accused of striking Gail Webster, a supervisor of Windham’s checklist, when she attempted to intervene in an altercation related to his loss in a re-election vote for selectman at the polls on March 8, 2005, at Golden Brook Elementary.

After numerous delays, a Supreme Court appeal of his indictment and several changes of counsel, Doyle’s trial was set to begin on Monday, Sept. 29. When Doyle failed to appear at a pre-trial hearing on Thursday, Sept. 18, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Doyle was arrested on Thursday, Oct. 1, after he walked into an FBI office in Lowell, Mass., inquiring about federal election laws. When an FBI agent determined there was a warrant out for Doyle’s arrest, he was turned over to Plaistow police.

Doyle’s bail hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 8, in Rockingham County Superior Court. A new pre-trial hearing has been set for Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m., and his trial is set to begin on Monday, Dec. 1.

According to court documents, Doyle filed a written motion with Superior Court to recall the warrant issued for his arrest on Monday, Sept. 22, saying he did not receive notification of the pre-trial hearing he missed. That motion was denied.

Doyle’s latest attorney filed a motion to withdraw from the case at the Sept. 18 pre-trial hearing, saying Doyle had not paid him for his services.

Londonderry police began looking for Doyle after he called the station on Sept. 29, saying he was going to turn himself in. Doyle’s parents live in Londonderry, but Doyle failed to turn himself in that day, prompting the search.

After the polls closed on March 8, 2005, Doyle’s father Edward Doyle, allegedly got into an altercation with Windham Selectman Bruce Breton over his son’s loss of his seat.

Webster, 62, allegedly tried to intervene and went to find a police officer.

According to a police affidavit including witness accounts, Webster tried to go into the hallway where the argument was taking place and Doyle, then 27, tried to prevent her from doing so by pushing her.

The felony assault charge alleges Webster, a town official as checklist supervisor, was assaulted while discharging her duties. At the time, Webster was also running for cemetery trustee.

Doyle filed to dismiss his indictment on the felony charge in February 2006, which a Rockingham Superior Court judge denied.

In September 2007, an appeal of Doyle’s indictment went to the state Supreme Court, where Doyle’s then-lawyer Michael Ricker argued Webster’s status at the time of the assault as a candidate for office negated her town officer status, therefore making the felony assault charge void.

Assistant Attorney General James Kennedy argued in that case that while Webster should have been temporarily replaced as checklist supervisor in light of her candidacy, she wasn’t, and was, indeed, functioning as a town official.

A Supreme Court judge ruled Webster would have retained her title as checklist supervisor even if she had been temporarily replaced.

The court agreed with Doyle that Webster should not have been performing her checklist duties at the time, but said the town was not aware of her disqualification until after Doyle’s indictment.

The court also said even though it may have been a conflict of interest, Webster was functioning at the time of the assault as the checklist supervisor, supporting the assault charge under state law.

Doyle was offered a plea bargain in October 2005, which would have downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor. Pleading guilty to that charge would have given him a one-year suspended jail sentence, and he would face no jail time or probation provided he stayed out of trouble for two years.

Under the bargain’s terms, he would have had to apologize to Webster, perform 100 hours of community service, get into an anger management treatment program, give up any town offices he held and be prevented from holding any public office for two years.

At the time, he was offered the deal, Doyle chaired the town’s Zoning Board. Doyle initially accepted the agreement, but later changed his mind. He now faces fines and a three-and-a-half- to seven-year sentence.