State v. Shortsleeves

• Citation: 580 A.2d 145
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. John SHORTSLEEVES.
• Decision Date: 30 August 1990
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (US)

Page 145

580 A.2d 145

STATE of Maine v. John SHORTSLEEVES.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued June 1, 1990.

Decided Aug. 30, 1990.

Leanne Robbin (orally), Assistant Atty. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.

David P. Silk (orally), Curtis, Thaxter, Stevens, Broder & Micoleau, Portland, for defendant.

Before ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD and COLLINS, JJ.

ROBERTS, Justice.

John Shortsleeves appeals from the judgment entered and the sentence imposed upon his conviction of murder, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (1983), in the Superior Court (York County, Brodrick, J.). He contends that the court committed reversible error in admitting a medical examiner's testimony that the large number of weapons used was consistent with two assailants. He also challenges his life sentence. We affirm both the conviction and the sentence.

I. Facts

Shortsleeves gave a statement, recorded on video and audio tape, to the state police about his involvement in the killing of Priscilla Dickerman at her home in Cornish on January 23, 1989. These tapes were played to the jury and transcripts of them were introduced in evidence. Shortsleeves did not testify at trial. He said in the interview that he and Tracy Meggison, who was later convicted of murder, each drank about twelve cans of beer at Shortsleeve's house on the afternoon of January 23. At about 5:00 p.m. they went to Long Pond Road where Dickerman lived. As they drove past her house Meggison said, "That bitch, I want to kill her." They drove on, looked at some camps that had been broken into, and then Meggison said that he wanted to return to Dickerman's house and that he knew her.

Shortsleeves said that he and Meggison drove back to Dickerman's house and parked down the road from it. When a detective asked Shortsleeves what the plan was, he replied, "He wanted to kill her. That's what he was saying and I just followed him." According to Shortsleeves, they left the car and Meggison took a black club with him. Meggison told Shortsleeves that he was going to knock on the door. He gave Shortsleeves the club and knocked on the door while Shortsleeves held the screen door open. Meggison went inside and closed the door while Shortsleeves dropped the club and continued holding the screen door. Meggison asked Shortsleeves to come inside and said to Dickerman, "He's hurt pretty bad." Shortsleeves limped in and said his leg hurt. Dickerman asked Shortsleeves if he was all right and offered to call someone.

Shortsleeves said he did not see Meggison hit Dickerman, but heard something, looked over and saw that she had fallen to the floor. He saw Meggison hit her a few more times with his fist as he yelled, "You bitch, bitch." Shortsleeves went outside, got the billy club, and brought it inside and handed it to Meggison. Meggison used it to hit Dickerman, who was on her knees. The club eventually broke. Shortsleeves shut the door and shut out the lights. He said that at that point he was feeling "nervous" and "shaky" and "freaking out." Dickerman fell to the floor, Meggison kicked her a few times and told Shortsleeves that he wanted him to kill her. Shortsleeves told him he could not kill her, but he kicked her a few times. Meggison told Shortsleeves to hand him a frying pan, which he did. Meggison hit Dickerman over the head several times with the frying pan. He told Shortsleeves to look for money, which he did. Shortsleeves told Meggison to pick up the broken club and a piece of paper on which Dickerman had written Meggison's name.

Shortsleeves said the two then headed for the door and one or both of them said to the other that they had better make sure she was dead. Meggison got a steak knife, which Shortsleeves helped him find, and sliced her throat as Shortsleeves was standing outside the door. Meggison also stabbed her in the head with a knife, which broke the knife. When the detective asked Shortsleeves why he did not stop Meggison, he replied "I don't know, I really don't."

Meggison took her pocketbook and Shortsleeves took a watch and two knives. They left one light on, shut the door and left the house. Shortsleeves noticed car keys hanging off the pocketbook and told Meggison to take her car and get rid of it. Meggison asked Shortsleeves if he wanted to. Shortsleeves alone drove Dickerman's car away, tossed a knife and the club out of the car in the woods and left the car in a field. The two drove back to Meggison's apartment, where he lived with Stacy Edgerly and Kim Cox. Shortsleeves told the detective he said to Meggison, "That was crazy," and Meggison responded "Yeah, that's the last time we do that."

On January 24, 1989 a neighbor found Dickerman's car in a field and saw blood on a stick in the car. A state trooper found a red splotch on the driver's door. He went to Dickerman's home at 8:20 p.m. and found a light on inside and a door slightly ajar. He found hair curlers on the floor, a television on the floor lying on its side, and found Dickerman's body on the floor with an overturned drawer beside it. A detective with the Maine State Police testified that he found blood spatters, hair curlers, a steak knife, a shelf and numerous other items strewn around the floor. He found blood on the cooking range and found a broken frying pan, as well as a bloody carving knife and vegetable chopper. He also found a sleeping bag with bloody impressions of footwear on it, one impression of which was later found to have characteristics of Shortsleeve's boots. In the upstairs loft area a small portable television had blood spatters on it.

Another state police detective testified that he searched the woods in the area where Shortsleeves had said he tossed the weapons out of the car and found a knife and a cutting board. The cutting board had blood and hair on it, and the knife was covered with blood. A forensic chemist with the Maine State Police Crime Lab testified that there was blood on Dickerman's car. Type B blood, which was Dickerman's blood type, and hairs that were microscopically similar to Dickerman's were found on the club. Shortsleeves' jeans had type B blood stains on the front of both legs up to the crotch, but did not have extensive stains on the back.

Ronald Roy, a physician, forensic pathologist and Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maine, observed Dickerman's body in her home on the evening of January 24, 1989 and later performed an autopsy on her. He testified that blood spatters on Dickerman's feet indicated she was upright for part of the time she was bleeding. She suffered blunt trauma, bruising and lacerations. Her face was severely bruised and she had multiple lacerations on her face and head caused by a blunt instrument. Her nose, jaw and the bone above an eye were fractured. He could not determine the order in which these injuries were inflicted. He testified that the head injuries were inflicted while she was alive and could alone have been fatal.

There were at least nine stab wounds in the neck caused by a sharp instrument, and probably done when she was lying down. These cuts went down to the spinal column and cut the carotid artery, partially decapitating her. There were surface cuts on her chest and a deep cut on her shoulder. Some of the lacerations on her chest suggested she was struggling. One of her ribs was fractured and bruised by a blunt instrument. The backs of her hands showed extensive bruising and a forearm was fractured, wounds Roy described as defense wounds.

Roy testified that a cast iron frying pan found near her body, as well as other objects shown him, such as a knife, a cutting board and a club, could have been used to inflict some of the injuries. The State then asked Roy:

Q: Would there be any way, Dr. Roy, to determine from the nature of the injuries, the number of items I've just shown you, position of Mrs. Dickerman's body as you found it, her likely position as you've already described it at the time injuries were inflicted on her, how many people would have been involved in infliction of the injuries?

A: From examination--

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Objection, I would like to have him establish any foundation he has for responding to that question first.

THE COURT: He's a forensic pathologist. The objection is overruled.

THE WITNESS: From examination of the wounds alone, it would not be possible to say. Probably not from the position of the body as well. You've shown me quite a few weapons, however, and that is distinctly unusual. By and large over the 10 years, the homicides I've seen with dealing with--

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Objection, again, I believe that goes beyond the scope of his expertise.

THE COURT: That's overruled again. Go ahead.

THE WITNESS: Generally you're dealing with one or two, at most, two or three, that's quite unusual, weapons. That we have so many weapons, to me would be consistent with two assailants, and not one, distinctly, very unusual.

After the jury retired it returned to receive reinstruction on murder as a principal, murder as an accomplice and manslaughter and to review the video tape. It returned a second time with a request to review the forensic pathologist's testimony regarding "the order of injuries, possible weapons used, and ... the number of people possible in inflicting the injuries as per his past experience." The jury heard the testimony, retired again and shortly thereafter returned the verdict. The defendant's motion for a new trial, based on the admission of the expert testimony about the number of assailants, was denied. The court sentenced Shortsleeves to life in prison. He appealed the judgment and applied for leave to appeal his sentence. The Sentence Review Panel issued an order granting the defendant leave to appeal the sentence. ¹

II. Appeal of Conviction

An expert may testify "[i]f scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue." M.R.Evid. 702. The expert may only...