State v. Cote

159 A.3d 831

STATE of Maine

v.Jason C. COTE

Docket: Som–16–66

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: February 6, 2017

Decided: April 25, 2017

Corrected: July 27, 2017

Verne E. Paradie, Jr., Esq. (orally), Paradie, Sherman, Walker & Worden, Lewiston, for appellant Jason C. CoteJanet T. Mills, Attorney General, and Donald W. Macomber, Asst. Atty. Gen. (orally), Office of the Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee State of Maine

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, JABAR, HJELM, and HUMPHREY, JJ.

JABAR, J.

[¶ 1] Jason C. Cote appeals from a judgment of conviction entered by the trial court (Somerset County, Horton, J. ) after a jury found him guilty of one count of murder, 17–A M.R.S. § 201(1)(A) (2016). Cote argues that (1) the motion court erred in denying his motion to suppress in part; (2) the State's attorney committed prosecutorial misconduct when she referenced Cote stomping on the victim's head in both her opening statement and closing argument; and (3) there was insufficient evidence in the record upon which the jury could find him guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. We affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] The jury rationally could have found the following facts based on the evidence, which we view in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict. See State v. Pratt , 2015 ME 167, ¶ 2, 130 A.3d 381. At the time of his death, the victim was a drug dealer and the defendant, Jason Cote, was one of his customers.

[¶ 3] On the evening of July 17, 2013, Cote received a text message from the victim asking Cote to come to the victim's residence in Detroit. Cote agreed and walked to the victim's trailer, where the two proceeded to smoke marijuana. After making "small talk," the victim confronted Cote about Cote's role in misleading agents from the Bureau of the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who were conducting an investigation of the victim. Cote, who had previously agreed to lie to the investigators on the victim's behalf, told the victim that he was having second thoughts about his continued involvement in the scheme. A physical altercation ensued, and Cote, using a metal pipe, bludgeoned the victim to death, striking him multiple times in the head.

[¶ 4] On September 6, 2013, Cote was charged by indictment with murder, 17–A M.R.S. § 201(1)(A), and he subsequently entered a not guilty plea.

A. Motion to Suppress

[¶ 5] Before trial, Cote moved to suppress statements he made to law enforcement officials prior to his arrest. A hearing on his motion was held on May 1, 2014. At the conclusion of the hearing, the motion court made the following findings, which are supported by the record. See State v. Lovett , 2015 ME 7, ¶ 3, 109 A.3d 1135.

[¶ 6] On the morning after the victim's death, a detective from the Maine State Police and several other law enforcement officers arrived at the residence of Cote's friends where Cote had slept the previous night. From outside the residence, the detective placed a call to Cote's cell phone. When Cote answered the call, he initially lied about his whereabouts, informing the detective that he was driving around Palmyra. The detective then revealed that he knew that Cote was inside the home and asked him to come outside to speak with him. Cote agreed and walked to the bottom of the driveway, where he was greeted by the detective. The detective invited Cote to speak with him in the back of his cruiser and Cote agreed.

[¶ 7] Over the course of the morning, the detective asked Cote a number of questions concerning his whereabouts on the day of the victim's death, but he did not readily reveal that he was investigating a homicide or that Cote's name had come up in the early stages of that investigation. The detective did, however, consistently inform Cote that he was not under arrest and that his involvement in the interview was voluntary. The interview was conducted in a calm manner and the detective allowed Cote to make and receive phone calls and to take breaks to smoke cigarettes and relieve himself.

[¶ 8] Eventually, the detective informed Cote that he was conducting an investigation into the death of the victim and that Cote was a person of interest. Cote continued his willing participation in the interview until around 12:40 p.m., approximately three hours after the interview began, when he inquired as to what the next steps in the process would be and informed the detective that he had things to do later that day. The detective largely ignored these concerns, however, and continued with the interview, obtaining additional statements; conducting a consented to search of Cote's trailer; taking pictures of his injuries, phone logs and text messages; and obtaining a DNA sample.

[¶ 9] After this initial interview on July 18, the detective interviewed Cote twice more: once on July 23 at the home of an acquaintance and again immediately preceding his arrest on July 24 at his grandparents' house. At no time before his arrest on July 24 was Cote administered Miranda warnings.

[¶ 10] After the hearing, the court (Horton, J. ) granted Cote's motion to suppress in part, concluding that he was in custody for Miranda purposes beginning at 12:44 p.m. on July 18, and that because he was not given the requisite Miranda warnings at that time, any statements he made after that point would be suppressed. The court denied, however, Cote's motion insofar as it pertained to statements obtained prior to 12:44 p.m. on July 18, or those obtained on July 23 and 24, because he was not in custody during those interactions. The court also concluded that the noncustodial statements obtained on July 23 and 24 were not "tainted" by the July 18 Miranda violation, and thus did not warrant suppression under that theory either.

B. Trial

[¶ 11] Beginning on December 10, 2015, a six-day trial was held on Cote's murder charge. At trial, Cote testified that on the night of the victim's death, the victim threatened him with a knife and that he acted in self-defense when he struck the victim with the pipe. The State presented evidence contesting Cote's version of events surrounding the victim's death. Specifically, the State elicited testimony from the State's Chief Medical Examiner, who conducted an autopsy of the victim. The medical examiner testified that the victim suffered numerous injuries, including a "hinge fracture," or a horizontal break at the base of the skull spanning ear to ear. He explained that this fracture was caused by a "significant force" coming down on one side of the victim's face while his head was "not moveable," as if resting against the floor. When asked whether the hinge fracture he observed could have been the result of stomping, the medical examiner responded that it was very possible, explaining that

[a] hinge fracture requires a lot of force, it requires the head to be in a fixed position. If the head were on the ground, it is in a fixed position, it actually makes more sense because the right side of his face did have some injury, there was wide surface area, which can correspond very nicely with the wide surface area of a boot, or shoe, or bottom of a foot. The force could certainly be enough to fracture the skull if the stomping or stepping were significant so, yes, it is very, very possible that that is a reasonable mechanism.

(emphasis added).

[¶ 12] The State's attorney used this testimony to refute Cote's self-defense claim, arguing during her closing, for instance, that "[a]t that point he claimed that [the victim] was still alive, he could have left, but instead he then stomps on [the victim's] head, and we know that occurred because [the medical examiner] told you that that hinge fracture ... is consistent with a person's head being stomped on."¹

[¶ 13] On December 17, 2015, the jury returned a guilty verdict on the sole murder count charged. Cote was subsequently sentenced to forty-five years' imprisonment.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Partial Denial of Motion to Suppress

[¶ 14] Cote argues that the motion court erred in concluding that he was not in custody for Miranda purposes prior to 12:44 p.m. on July 18, 2013, and consequently denying his motion to suppress the statements he made to law enforcement officers that morning. He also contends that the court erred in denying his motion with regard to the statements he made on July 23 and 24 on the ground that these statements, while noncustodial in nature, were "tainted" by the portion of the July 18 interview conducted in violation of Miranda.

1. Standard of Review

[¶ 15] In an appeal of a denial of a motion to suppress, we review the motion court's factual findings for clear error and its "ultimate determination of whether the statement should be suppressed" de novo. State v. Bragg , 2012 ME 102, ¶ 8, 48 A.3d 769 (quotation marks omitted). Whether Cote was in custody prior to 12:44 p.m. on July 18, 2013, is a mixed question of law and fact. See State v. Dion , 2007 ME 87, ¶ 22, 928 A.2d 746. "We give deference to the trial court's factual determinations, but the determination of whether an individual was in custody requires an independent de novo review." Id. (quotation marks omitted).

2. Custody Determination

[¶ 16] Miranda warnings are only required when a person is "in custody" and "subject to interrogation." State v. Ames , 2017 ME 27, ¶ 12, 155 A.3d 881 (quotation marks omitted). There is no dispute that during all three interviews, Cote was "subject to interrogation." Id. Cote, however, contests the court's determination that he was not "in custody," and therefore not entitled to Miranda warnings prior to 12:44 p.m. on July 18. Id. If Cote was "in custody" prior to this time, absent Miranda warnings, his statements would not be admissible against him in the State's case-in-chief. Id.; see State v. Philbrick , 436 A.2d 844, 848 (Me. 1981).

[¶ 17] When determining whether a person was "in custody" for Miranda purposes, the court's inquiry focuses on "whether a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have...