State v. Pelletier

306 A.3d 614

2023 ME 74

STATE of Maine

v.Taylor A. PELLETIER

Docket: Som-23-54

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: October 3, 2023

Decided: December 14, 2023

Revised: January 18, 2024

Hunter J. Tzovarras, Esq. (orally), Bangor, for appellant Taylor A. Pelletier Maeghan Maloney, District Attorney, and Shannon Flaherty, Asst. Dist. Atty. (orally), Prosecutorial District IV, Skowhegan, for appellee State of Maine

Panel: STANFILL, C.J., and MEAD, JABAR, HORTON, CONNORS, LAWRENCE, and DOUGLAS, JJ.

JABAR, J.

[¶1] Taylor A. Pelletier appeals from a judgment entered by the trial court (Somerset County, Mullen, C.J.) following a jury-waived trial convicting him of two counts of kidnapping with a dangerous weapon (Class A), two counts of aggravated assault (Class B), one count of domestic violence threatening with a dangerous weapon (Class C), and one count of domestic violence terrorizing with a dangerous weapon (Class C). On appeal, Pelletier challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, the court’s denial of his motion to dismiss Count 1 of the indictment, and the court’s denial of his motion to dismiss for discovery and Brady violations. We affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

[¶2] The trial court found the following facts, which are supported by competent evidence in the record. See State v. Wilson, 2015 ME 148, ¶ 13, 127 A.3d 1234. In August 2021, Pelletier lived at a house in Fairfield with the victim and three children. Pelletier had recently installed a home security system, which consisted of several cameras and two digital video recorders (DVRs). The cameras recorded, without audio, the events that occurred at the house on the afternoon and early evening of August 15, 2021, and those recordings were stored on the DVRs and admitted in evidence at trial.

[¶3] At about 3:30 p.m. on August 15, the victim arrived at the house in her pickup truck. Pelletier came outside when she arrived. He was jealous and suspicious of the victim, who he believed had just returned from visiting a male friend. He told the victim to "get the fuck out of the truck now and get the fuck inside." The victim got out of the truck and went into the garage adjoining the house, with Pelletier trailing close behind.

[¶4] Once inside the garage, Pelletier began to handle the victim aggressively, and she fell onto the stairs leading from the garage into the house. As the victim lay on the stairway, Pelletier brandished a pistol that he had been carrying in his waistband and brought his face close to hers. Pelletier then placed the gun back in his waistband, picked the victim up by her hair, and directed her inside the house.

[¶5] Once inside, Pelletier pushed the victim onto the kitchen floor. She remained there, behind a counter and out of view of the cameras, for about fifteen minutes while Pelletier appeared to kick her and point his gun at her. When the victim began to sit up so that her head appeared above the counter, Pelletier became agitated, leaned down to speak to her, and then struck her several times with the butt of his gun. She then tried to stand up but fell back down to the floor. Pelletier continued to assault her for about five more minutes.

[¶6] Pelletier then told the victim to get one of the children, who had been sleeping in the truck while this initial assault occurred. She did so, and when she came back into the kitchen, Pelletier lunged at her, grabbing the side of her face and her neck. He held her there for a few moments, bringing his face in so close to hers that they almost touched.

[¶7] Pelletier then let go of the victim. She walked backward out of the kitchen as Pelletier advanced toward her. The vic- tim’s left hand was extended out toward Pelletier, and she held the side of her head with her right hand. Pelletier backed her into a doorway.

[¶8] He began berating her and then punched her in the side of the face. Pelletier punched the victim at least two more times while she tried to defend herself by raising her arms and one of her legs. She struggled to stand and briefly slumped against the door before successfully standing up. Pelletier continued to berate the victim and raised his gun toward her in a threatening manner while grabbing the side of her neck. The victim slumped against the door again, and Pelletier brought his face close to hers while holding his gun near her head. The victim eventually stood back up, but Pelletier grabbed her neck and head and forced her back to the ground.

[¶9] At about 4:30 p.m., an hour after he began his attacks, Pelletier went outside, leaving the victim sitting in the doorway. She remained there for about forty minutes, while Pelletier and the children came in and out of the house intermittently. At one point, Pelletier sat down across from the victim and spoke with her. Throughout this period, Pelletier’s gun remained tucked in his waistband, visible to the victim.

[¶10] At 5:08 p.m., when Pelletier and the children were outside, the victim stood up and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Pelletier came back inside, went into the bathroom, and began speaking with the victim. She testified that he became "triggered" during their conversation and assaulted her again, choking her until she "started seeing stars." This last assault, which was not captured on a camera, occurred sometime between 5:19 p.m. and 6:24 p.m.

[¶11] The victim then gathered the children and left the house around 6:40 p.m., about three hours after Pelletier had first attacked her in the garage. At first, the victim was unable to start the truck because Pelletier had disconnected the battery, but she quickly discovered the issue, reconnected the battery, and drove off. She went to her grandparents’ house, where she eventually spoke to a police officer who observed that she was ciying, scared, and had visible injuries.

[¶12] The victim testified that Pelletier told her repeatedly throughout the incident that he was going to kill her. She also testified that the blows he inflicted on her were painful and that she did not feel free to leave the house during or between the attacks. The trial court found the victim’s testimony credible and compelling.

B. Procedural History

[¶13] The State filed a criminal complaint against Pelletier on August 18, 2021, and on August 25, 2022, a grand jury indicted him on the following nine counts:

Count 1: Kidnapping the victim and/or the three children with a dangerous weapon, with intent to cause bodily harm (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. § 301(1)(A)(3) (2021);¹

Count 2: Kidnapping the victim and/or the three children with a dangerous weapon, with intent to terrorize (Class A), id. § 301(1)(A)(4);

Count 3: Domestic violence aggravated assault of the victim with a dangerous weapon (Class B), 17-A M.R.S. § 208-D(1)(C) (2021);² Count 4: Aggravated assault of the victim (Class B), 17-A M.R.S. § 208(1)(C) (2021 );³

Count 5: Aggravated assault of a child (Class B), id.;

Count 6: Assault of a child less than six years old (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 207(1)(B) (2021);⁴

Count 7: Domestic violence criminal threatening of the victim with a dangerous weapon (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 209-A(1)(A) (2021);⁵

Count 8: Domestic violence criminal threatening of a child with a dangerous weapon (Class C), id.; and

Count 9: Domestic violence terrorizing of the victim and/or the three children with a dangerous weapon (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 210-B(1)(A) (2021).⁶

Pelletier waived his right to a jury trial, and the court set a trial date for September 22, 2022.

[¶14] On July 20, 2022 (before the State obtained the indictment), Pelletier’s attorney sent a discovery request to the State for, inter alia, copies of "any … recording (audio or visual) … which [is] material to the preparation of a defense …, including any and all video and audio recordings"; "[a]ll videotapes … relating in any way to the alleged offense"; and "[a]ny materials or information within the scope of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) … including … information that may detract from the credibility or probative value of evidence or testimony used by the government." On August 3, 2022, Pelletier’s attorney sent an email to the prosecutor requesting "an exact copy of what was seized from the house." He stated that he had received twenty-six videos that the State intended to use in its case-in-chief but had not received any other videos that were recovered from the DVRs seized from Pelletier’s residence. Pelletier’s attorney repeated his request on August 23, 2022.

[¶15] On September 19, 2022, three days before the scheduled trial date, Pelletier filed a motion for discovery sanctions, stating that he still had not received all the videos from the DVRs. He requested that either the indictment be dismissed or the State be precluded from playing at trial any videos recovered from the home. Following a hearing on September 22, 2022, which had been scheduled as the original trial date, the court found that the State had violated Rule 16 of the Maine Rules of Unified Criminal Procedure. However, it did not decide whether the State had violated its obligations under Brady, noting that it had not had a chance to view the videos and therefore could not determine whether they were exculpatory. The court declined to impose the sanctions Pelletier requested and instead continued the trial until October 11 to allow the State time to provide the videos to Pelletier and to allow Pelletier time to review the videos and prepare a defense. It invited Pelletier to renew his motion if he viewed the videos as "being relevant and certainly if determined to be exculpatory." The court explained that if "the videos tend to be exculpatory on one or more of the charges or impeaching as to one or more witnesses, a more serious sanction may be in order."

[¶16] The court held a bench trial on October 11 and 12, 2022. Following the trial, Pelletier filed a motion to dismiss Count 1 of the indictment ...