State v. Reese

991 A.2d 806

2010 ME 30

STATE of Maine v. Geoffrey Demond REESE.¹

Docket: Yor-09-365

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: February 10, 2010.

Decided: April 1, 2010.

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Anna T. Collins, Esq., Robert C. Andrews, Esq. (orally), Portland, ME, for Geoffrey Demond Reese.

Mark W. Lawrence, District Attorney, Justina A. McGettigan, Asst. Dist. Atty., Anne Marie Pazar, Esq. (orally), Alfred, ME, for the State of Maine.

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, LEVY, SILVER, MEAD, GORMAN, and JABAR, JJ.

SILVER, J.

¶ 1 Geoffrey Demond Reese appeals from a judgment of conviction entered by the Superior Court (York County, Fritzsche, J.) after a jury found him guilty of elevated aggravated assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. § 208-B(1)(A) (2009), and aggravated assault (Class B), 17-A M.R.S. § 208(1)(B) (2009); and after the court found him guilty of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (Class C), 15 M.R.S. § 393(1)(A-1)(3) (2009). Reese was also granted leave, pursuant to M.R.App. P. 20 and 15 M.R.S. § 2151 (2009), to appeal his sentence, which was twenty-nine years, with no portion of the sentence suspended, on the elevated aggravated assault conviction. We affirm the judgment and the sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Viewing the evidence admitted at trial in the light most favorable to the State, see State v. Bruzzese, 2009 ME 61, ¶ 10, 974 A.2d 311, 313, the jury could have found the following facts. Early in 2008, Reese and the victim moved to Maine from Texas and were living in a motel room in Old Orchard Beach. Although Reese was a convicted felon who was prohibited from owning a firearm, at his request the victim bought a nine-millimeter gun in December 2007. Reese kept the gun loaded with full-metal-jacket bullets and hollow-point bullets which make particularly severe and penetrating injuries. Reese had previously threatened to kill the victim and had discharged the gun about six feet from her into a floor. Reese also took the victim to buy a shovel which he kept in the trunk of their rental car and told her that he intended to bury her with it.

¶ 3 On May 3, 2008, the victim finished her shift work as a nurse and returned to the motel room where she got into an argument with Reese. In the early hours of the next morning Reese told the victim to go with him to buy cigarettes. Although the victim feared for her life at that point, she felt she had to comply. During the drive back from the store Reese became enraged. He pulled the car over, hit the victim's head against the window, ordered her to get out, and reached for the gun. Reese shot at her nine times as she tried to get away. Two of Reese's shots struck the victim, one in the back and the other under the arm, inflicting life-threatening injuries. Reese left the victim collapsed next to the road and drove back to the motel. A passing motorist saw her lying in the road, stopped, and summoned emergency assistance. The victim told a law enforcement officer that Reese shot her and she gave the officer the name of the motel where they had been staying. She subsequently underwent emergency surgery, followed by an extended hospital stay, and survived.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Reese's Motion to Suppress

¶ 4 Before trial, Reese moved to suppress several statements and the evidence seized in a search of his motel room pursuant to a search warrant. The court (Brennan, J.) denied his motion. Reese makes several arguments on appeal. We review the denial of a motion to suppress for clear error as to factual findings and de novo as to issues of law. State v. DiPietro, 2009 ME 12, ¶ 13, 964 A.2d 636, 640; State v. Lockhart, 2003 ME 108, ¶ 15, 830 A.2d 433, 441.

1. Reese's Statement in the Patrol Car

¶ 5 An officer drove by the motel and observed Reese exiting one of the motel rooms carrying a clear plastic trash bag which he threw into the motel dumpster. When the bag was later recovered it contained some items that were identified as the victim's possessions. Reese appeared to lock himself out of his room. An officer asked Reese his name, told him he was being detained, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back seat of a patrol car. When the officer who supervised the investigation arrived, he opened the back door to the patrol car and explained to Reese that he was being detained due to an investigation involving the victim. Reese responded: "We broke up, and I haven't seen her in two weeks." No questions were asked of Reese at that point.

¶ 6 Reese argues that the court erred in holding that his statement in the patrol car was not the product of an interrogation. In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the United States Supreme Court held that the state may not use a defendant's statements "stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination." Id. at 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602. We have held that a court's conclusion that a law enforcement officer's comment did not constitute interrogation "will be upheld unless the evidence shows that a contrary inference was the only reasonable conclusion that could have been drawn." State v. Smith, 612 A.2d 231, 233 (Me. 1992) (quotation marks omitted). Reese's statement in the patrol car was not the product of an interrogation. See id.

2. Reese's Statements During Booking

¶ 7 After Reese was arrested, he was taken to an interview room at the Saco Police Department and given a Miranda warning. He responded that he wanted to speak with an attorney and did not want to answer questions. He was then taken to another room where the same officer asked him a series of questions for booking. One of those questions was whether he had with him any form of identification to verify the personal information he had provided. The officer also may have asked him where the identification was. Reese responded that his identification was in his motel room or in a rental vehicle parked at the motel. The officer did not ask Reese any questions about the rental vehicle or the motel room. He asked Reese whether he had a criminal history and Reese replied that he did not.

¶ 8 Reese argues that the questions he was asked during booking about his identity and criminal record violated his right to remain silent and to have an attorney, pursuant to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution. We have held that brief, neutral questions that are not part of an effort to elicit a confession or admission do not constitute interrogation. State v. Estes, 418 A.2d 1108, 1111 (Me.1980); State v. Simoneau, 402 A.2d 870, 873 (Me.1979). This includes questions intended to obtain the data pertinent to the defendant's identity and necessary for booking. Estes, 418 A.2d at 1111. The questions asked of Reese during booking, including his criminal record, were routine and related to identity only. There is no evidence that the officer was trying to elicit a confession or admission. We agree with the reasoning set forth in the recommended decision in United States v. Hopkins, 2005 U.S. Dist. Lexis 6058, at *13-14 (citing United States v. Foster, 227 F.3d 1096, 1102-03 (9th Cir.2000); and United States v. Mitchell, 58 F. App'x 14, 16 (4th Cir.2003) (per curiam) (unpublished)), that booking questions may be asked either before or after the Miranda warning.

3. The Missing Probable Cause Affidavit

¶ 9 A search of Reese's motel room pursuant to a search warrant yielded the gun, ammunition, and other items linked to the crime. It is undisputed that at the time of the suppression hearing the probable cause affidavit for the motel room search was not among the search warrant documents on file in the District Court. Pursuant to M.R.Crim. P. 41, both the officer responsible for executing the search warrant and the court have responsibilities with respect to the filing of the probable cause affidavit and the other search warrant documents. The State was unable to explain why the affidavit was absent from the court file. The officer who executed the search warrant only became aware of the absence many months after the documents were filed.

¶ 10 At the suppression hearing the court admitted testimony over Reese's objection from the District Court judge who reviewed the affidavit and request for a search warrant. The judge's testimony was admitted solely to prove that there was an affidavit presented with the request for a warrant. The court also admitted the testimony of the law enforcement officer who presented the affidavit and request for a warrant to the judge. The officer testified that he remembered drafting an affidavit on his desktop computer, presenting it to his supervisor for review, and then going with another officer to present the affidavit and request for a search warrant to the judge. The next day the officer used the information from the affidavit for the motel room search warrant to draft an affidavit and request for a search warrant for Reese's rental vehicle. The affidavits for the two searches were identical in all respects pertinent to the probable cause facts common to both searches except that the affidavit for the vehicle search identified the officer who observed an empty bullet casing in plain view in the rental vehicle. The observation itself was described in both affidavits. The court admitted both the properly-filed affidavit for the search of the rental vehicle and the copy of the original affidavit for the search of the motel room.

¶ 11 Pursuant to article 1, section 5 of the Maine Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, search warrants must be based on probable cause and "supported by oath or affirmation." A probable cause affidavit, when properly returned and filed pursuant to M.R.Crim. P. 41, creates a record that permits judicial review. See 15 M.R.S. § 55 (2009). Reese argues that review...