State v. Cookson

• Decision Date: 01 December 2003
• Citation: 837 A.2d 101,2003 ME 136
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Jeffrey A. COOKSON.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

837 A.2d 101

2003 ME 136

STATE of Maine v. Jeffrey A. COOKSON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: September 10, 2003.

Decided: December 1, 2003.

G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General, Donald W. Macomber, Asst. Atty. General (orally), Lisa P. Marchese, Asst. Atty. General, Augusta, for State.

William Maselli, Esq. (orally), Auburn, for defendant.

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, ALEXANDER, CALKINS, and LEVY, JJ.

CALKINS, J.

[¶ 1] Jeffery A. Cookson appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Cole, J.), after a jury trial, convicting him of two counts of murder (17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (1983)). Cookson contends that testimony from a nurse practitioner should not have been admitted because the testimony was not relevant and the witness was not qualified. He also argues that he is entitled to a new trial because evidence from a firearms expert, tying Cookson to the alleged murder weapon, was false and, therefore, denied him due process. Cookson further claims that the court erred in refusing to grant him a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence that consisted of: (1) the recovery of the murder weapon after the trial; (2) another person confessed to committing the murders; and (3) the erroneous evidence given by the firearms expert. Additionally, Cookson appeals his consecutive life sentences, arguing that the court misapplied sentencing principles and abused its discretion. We reject Cookson's arguments and affirm his convictions and sentences.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] The bodies of Mindy Gould, age twenty, and Treven Cunningham, age twenty-one months, were discovered in Gould's sister's home in Dexter on the morning of December 3, 1999. Gould had been residing in her sister's home, and that morning Gould was babysitting Treven, the son of her best friend. Both Gould and Treven were found lying face down on a bed with pillows over their heads. They died from single gunshots to their heads, through the pillows, from a 9mm gun.

[¶ 3] The police investigation immediately centered on Cookson. Gould and Cookson had resided together, off and on, from the time Gould was seventeen. They had lived at Cookson's mobile home in New Gloucester, and they had resided together for a short time at Gould's sister's home in Dexter. Gould had attempted to separate from Cookson, and a month before her death, she obtained a temporary protection from abuse order against Cookson following an incident in which he threatened her and the police were called. In spite of the protection order, which prohibited Cookson from having any contact with Gould, he stalked her. After a court hearing on November 30, 1999, at which Gould and Cookson appeared, the court issued a final protection order which was served on Cookson. Treven's mother testified at the protection hearing for Gould. At Cookson's murder trial, several witnesses described the relationship between Cookson and Gould and testified about Cookson stalking Gould. The jury was also given evidence of the temporary and final protection orders.

[¶ 4] As of the time of Cookson's trial, the police had been unable to locate the murder weapon, but they learned that Cookson had been given a 9mm gun two years earlier. The police traced the ownership of that 9mm gun, learned that it was a Taurus Model PT-99-AF, and obtained the serial number for the gun. They retrieved spent bullets and shell casings from previous owners and from the home of Cookson's father, which were examined by firearms expert Brian Bachelder. It was his opinion that the Taurus Model PT-99-AF, known to have been possessed by Cookson, was the gun that killed Gould and Treven. Evidence of the chain of ownership of the Taurus Model PT-99-AF, the shell casings, and Bachelder's opinion were presented at trial.

[¶ 5] Additionally, the police located three spent bullets in the yard of Cookson's mobile home in New Gloucester. Firearms expert Charles Helms determined that one of the New Gloucester bullets had been fired from the same gun that fired the bullets obtained from the murder scene and the Gould autopsy. Those bullets as well as Helms' opinion were admitted at trial.

[¶ 6] Cookson was arrested and charged with the murders of Gould and Treven. He was denied bail. The jury trial began on November 27, 2001, and concluded with the guilty verdicts on December 6, 2001. The State argued to the jury that Cookson had a motive to kill Gould because she left him and he was losing control over her. The State emphasized that Cookson possessed the weapon that was used to kill Gould and Treven. The defense theory was that Cookson, who had denied to the police any involvement with the murders, was sleeping on his brother's couch, as his brother testified, at the time of the murders. Cookson chose not to testify. The defense did not challenge the opinions of the firearms experts or offer evidence on the murder weapon.

[¶ 7] Immediately after the jury returned the guilty verdicts, the defense counsel requested a conference with the court. Cookson's attorneys disclosed that during the course of the trial they and their investigator met with David Vantol, a prospective witness whom they believed would corroborate Cookson's alibi. Instead, Vantol confessed to the murders and to knowing the location of the murder weapon. Cookson's defense team did not think that Vantol's confession was credible enough to call him as a witness. At a subsequent meeting before the trial was concluded, Vantol again confessed to the defense attorneys that he killed Gould and Treven. However, at this second meeting he implicated Cookson as having arranged or participated in the killings. Because Vantol's second confession would be harmful to Cookson, the attorneys, with Cookson's knowledge, decided not to call Vantol to testify. In the conference with the court after the trial, the defense attorneys described Vantol's confession to the court but made no motion at that time.

[¶ 8] The case was continued for sentencing, and shortly after the trial, Cookson moved for a new trial on four grounds, three of which were on the basis of newly discovered evidence: (1) the murder weapon was discovered after trial; (2) the firearms expert learned of an error in his testimony; and (3) Vantol's confession. The fourth ground was the claim that Cookson's due process rights were violated because of the false evidence of the firearms expert.

[¶ 9] A hearing was held on the motion at which the following facts emerged. The police interviewed Vantol the same day that Cookson's trial ended, and Vantol led them to a 9mm gun hidden under a rock, which he claimed was the weapon he used to shoot Gould and Treven. This gun was a Taurus Model PT-92, not the Taurus Model PT-99-AF that figured prominently in Cookson's trial. The recovered gun was tested, and the expert testimony at the motion hearing was that the Taurus Model PT-92 was the gun that killed Gould and Treven.

[¶ 10] Bachelder, the firearms expert, testified at the motion hearing that his opinion at trial was incorrect. The opinion he gave at trial was that shell casings obtained from previous owners of the Taurus Model PT-99-AF were fired from the same weapon that murdered Gold and Treven. He had mistaken class characteristics, that is, characteristics applicable to a class of firearms, as unique characteristics, that is, characteristics unique to a particular gun. Bachelder did not discover this mistake until after Cookson's trial when he read an article about the class characteristics of the particular model. The court found that the trial testimony of Bachelder was the result of a mistake and that neither the State nor Bachelder knew at the time that he was in error.

[¶ 11] The police conducted several interviews with Vantol after the trial, and he claimed to have killed Gould and Treven. Vantol told the police that Cookson offered to pay him $10,000 to kill Gould and that Cookson drove Vantol to Gould's sister's house on the morning of the murders. Once inside the residence, Vantol said that he pulled the gun on Gould, and when she ran to the bedroom, he shot her. According to Vantol, he then shot Treven.

[¶ 12] After Vantol's confession to the police, he received treatment at a psychiatric hospital, and he recanted his confession to his psychiatrist. Vantol testified at the motion hearing that he was not involved with the killing of Gould and Treven. He testified that Cookson, whom he had visited in jail on several occasions, told him what to say and provided him with all of the details. Vantol said he first confessed to Cookson's lawyers, telling them that he had shot Gould in self-defense. It did not appear that Cookson's lawyers believed him, and when Vantol visited Cookson in jail, Cookson told him to tell the lawyers another version. A jail official testified and corroborated the dates of Vantol's visits to Cookson. Vantol's psychiatrist testified that Vantol had low intelligence, functioned at the level of a twelve or thirteen-year-old, and was easily influenced by others. The court found that Vantol was truthful at the motion hearing and that he had fabricated his confession at Cookson's instigation.

[¶ 13] The court denied Cookson's new trial motion, finding that he had failed to demonstrate that the murder weapon could not have been discovered before trial by the exercise of reasonable diligence. The court also held that because Vantol's confession was made to the defense team before the conclusion of the trial, it was not newly discovered evidence. With regard to the erroneous testimony of the firearms expert, the court held that the error could have been discovered before trial by reasonable diligence, and was, therefore, not newly discovered. Because the expert's opinion was based on a mistake and was not an intentional falsehood, the court concluded that Cookson was not denied due process.

[¶ 14] Cookson was...