Trial Court
Link to Trial Court Bank
State v. Pelkey-Grant
Judge Zonay ruled that statements suppressed as Miranda violations are not admissible at sentencing, except to impeach the defendant if she testifies or allocates.
State v. Alger
Judge Kupersmith suppressed defendant's confession in an arson case as involuntary. Dr. Nash testified and the court found that the defendant’s IQ is 84 and he was particularly susceptible to suggestion made by persons in authority. The defendant conformed his answers to what the officers wanted him to say.
State v. Williams & LaCross
Zimmerman to suppress drugs and dismiss the case where the officers had a search warrant to search a particular residence. Leroy’s client was not mentioned in the affidavit and he testified that his bedroom was exclusively his. No probable cause to believe that the defendant possessed drugs or was involved in the drug activities of others at the residence.
State v. McNamara
Judge Corsones rejected the state’s claim of community caretaking where the officer saw a lone vehicle pulled over in a designated rest area. The driver’s side door was open. The defendant closed her door and began to drive away, but the officer stopped her. There were no facts to indicate the defendant was in need of assistance.
State v. Smith
Judge Zonay suppressed cocaine and marijuana seized by police following a lawful car stop. In a long and helpful opinion, Zonay finds that after stopping a car for crossing the center line, police unlawfully extended both the duration and scope of the stop by continued and intense questioning for 44 minutes without reasonable suspicion of drug activity. Court rejects as not credible the trooper’s claim that the race of the two passengers (male-black) and driver (female- white) did not play a part in his suspicions of drug activity. Cop called for back-up almost immediately after stopping the car based upon his claims that the rear passenger was nervous and front passenger was not and the stop was made around 3:00 am. Court finds this insufficient and discusses the limited significance of nervousness in determining reasonable suspicion.
State v. Latham
Dismissal of felony crack cocaine possession charges, as well as a VOP based on the charged event. Police were esponding to drug tips that could not support a warrant. They left the station without a ticket book and a consent to search form. For some reason, they detained the vehicle for twenty minutes without acting on traffic violations. They obtained the consent form, but not the ticket book. Judge Rainville found a Sprague/Cunningham violation. The judge also believed the client that the “consent” was obtained after a claim of authority and was not voluntary.
State v. Vey
Suntag dismissed 15 counts of embezzlement and failure to deliver title.
Judge Zonay suppressed a confession in a case of two counts of L&L with a child. Judge Zonay found that the statements were involuntary due to the Brandon Chief of Police's promise that the defendant would not be arrested if he admitted to the alleged crimes.
Judge Morris suppressed 10 bags of heroin and 4.5 grams of marijuana. Officers were looking for the defendant based upon a vague tip from an informant. They pulled defendant over for failing to signal a turn and blocked his car so that he could not drive away. The officer ordered the defendant out of the car and immediately patted him down and retrieved a hypodermic needle from his pocket. Then the officer asked him where the heroin was, and of course, the defendant told him it was in his backpack. The court finds that there was no need for the pat-down. It was daylight and in downtown Newport. The officer had no information that the defendant was armed and dangerous. The court finds that the fact that an officer believes drug dealers carry weapons is insufficient by itself to justify a Terry frisk. The court also holds that at the time the officer asked the defendant where the heroin was, the defendant was in custody given the blocking of his car and the officer’s discovery of the needle. No Miranda rights were given. Despite a signed consent to search form, the court held that the contents of the backpack must be suppressed as the fruit of the unlawful pat-down and Miranda violation.
Judge Kupersmith granted a new trial based upon prosecutor Lavoie’s remark in closing that the defendant tried to put the stories together after the witnesses had testified -- the implication being that the defendant fabricated his testimony after listening to his own witness. There was no evidence of this in the record, so the judge granted the motion for new trial.
State v. Cast
Judge Zimmerman granted a motion to suppress and dismiss a DUI and civil suspension where the officer stopped the defendant because she observed him driving in circles in a parking lot at 4:30 a.m. The community caretaking exception does not apply because there was no objective information that anything was wrong.
State v. Beckwith
Judge Wesley granted a motion to dismiss a civil suspension where the officer arranged for the defendant to speak with an attorney at the point in the processing calling for Miranda warnings, but completely omitted the implied consent right to an attorney. Judge Wesley found that defense counsel had “carefully and persuasively explicate[d] the jurisprudence” and “convincingly” rebutted the state’s argument.
State v. Pelkey-Grant
Judge Zonay granted a motion to suppress all of client’s statements made in response to custodial interrogation in a murder case. Detectives interrogated defendant at her home - the scene of the homicide - without giving Miranda. After taking her to the police barracks, they finally gave her Miranda. She indicated she would only draw a map, but the police continued to question her as she drew it. Police again interrogated her several days later at the barracks. The judge found that she was in custody while in her home and at the barracks, and the continued questioning without a Miranda waiver was a Miranda violation. The subsequent questioning was also suppressible as the fruit of the poisonous tree under Badger. The map was also suppressed.
Docket 416-4-08 Wncr (Grearson)(August 28, 2009)
Judge Grearson suppressed a confession in a case involving two charges of aggravated domestic assault on a child. The defendant was interrogated for more than seven hours by Det. Twohig. Dr. Kinsler testified as to the minimization, implied promises of leniency, and coercion used by Twohig, and the young defendant’s compliant personality.
Docket No. 510-5-08 Frcr (Kupersmith)(August 6, 2009)
Judge Kupersmith to found the client incompetent in a sex assault on a child case due to low IQ and severe memory deficits. Dr. Kinsler testified for the defense, and his psychological testing and assessment convinced the judge to reject Dr. Linder’s testimony that he believed the defendant’s memory was adequate although he had conducted no formal psychological or neurological tests.
Docket No. 69-1-07 Cacr (VanBenthuysen)(June 16, 2009)
Judge VanBenthuysen granted youthful offender status for manslaughter client, Jonas Dixon. Jonas at age 15 was charged with second degree murder for shooting, in a struggle, a man who had just had sex with his psychotic mother. The judge found that Jonas was not dangerous and was amenable to treatment. Dr. Kinsler testified for the defense and his testimony was relied on by the judge.
State v. Ackland
Docket No. 198-5-09 Ancr (C. Corsones)(June 15, 2009)
Officer pulls woman over because he thought her car sounded loud and he thought he heard her “rev” her engine at a stop sign. No speeding, no erratic driving. Judge Cortland Corsones finds no reasonable suspicion to stop.
State v. Wright
Docket No. 923-8-08 Frcr (Kupersmith)(May 27, 2009)
Judgment of acquittal post-trial from Judge Kupersmith in a reckless endangerment case where the claim was that the defendant pointed an air rifle at five juveniles. The judge finds that an air rifle is not a firearm, and therefore, the state has to prove that pointing it at people placed them in danger of death or serious bodily injury, which it couldn’t do because it never proved that the air rifle was loaded.
State v. McDonald
Docket No. 921-8-08 Frcr (Kupersmith) (April 8, 2009)
Judge Kupersmith held that statements made by defendant’s children, elicited by their grandmother, were inadmissible as they lacked “substantial indicia of trustworthiness” pursuant to V.R.E. Rule 804a(a)(4). In a case involving two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct against his two minor children, the state sought admission of explicit statements detailing how the defendant allegedly engaged in sexual acts with them. Applying the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) guidelines used by defense expert witness Dr. Mantell, the court found the grandmother’s interview of the children “seriously flawed” as it lacked objectivity and was not recorded. Neither did the grandmother separate the two children before questioning them. The court, noting that use of open-ended questions by interviewers is “perhaps the most critical principal,” found the grandmother’s questions and technique of using dolls improperly suggestive. Although some parts of the interview were arguably admissible, the court held that it would not be “reliable, fair, or appropriate to lift these statements out of context” and denied the entire sequence of statements by the children. Motion to exclude granted.
State v. Letkowski
No. 550-6-06Frcr.
Judge Kupersmith denied admission of a child’s hearsay statements to her mother, the detective and DCF worker as not containing substantial indicia of trustworthiness. Dr. Mantell testified at the hearing, and Kupersmith concluded that he is “an exceptionally qualified expert in the area of evaluating allegations of sexual abuse of children” and in the critique of child interviews. Dr. Mantell pointed out the numerous interviewing deficiencies of the NUSI team and the judge warned that unless appropriate standards and training are implemented, the court will be compelled to continue to reject statements that don’t demonstrate trustworthiness.
State v. Subair,
No. 334-7-08Ancr.
Judge Corsones suppressed all drugs seized following a lawful traffic stop which then morphed unlawfully into a drug investigation based entirely upon the officer’s discovery of a white powdery substance inside a small container used to carry pills (or narcotics). Without knowing whether the substance was legal or not, the stop was unlawfully expanded in scope and duration.
No. 262-2-04 Wmcr.
Judge Hayes ruled that the state has no authority to obtain an independent examination of the defendant where competence but not sanity has been raised. Rule 16.1(a)(1)(I) allows the court authority to order the defendant to submit to a mental examination only when the defendant has raised an issue relating to a mental condition bearing on guilt. Competence is not a defense and does not bear on guilt; it is a due process requirement.