State v. Ashe

• Decision Date: 04 February 1981
• Citation: 425 A.2d 191
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. John F. ASHE, Jr.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 191

425 A.2d 191

STATE of Maine v. John F. ASHE, Jr.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued Nov. 5, 1980.

Decided Feb. 4, 1981.

Henry N. Berry, III, Dist. Atty., Peter G. Ballou, Deputy Dist. Atty., Maryellen Black, Law Student Intern, Portland, for plaintiff.

Anthony Irace, Portland (orally), for defendant.

Before WERNICK, GODFREY, NICHOLS, GLASSMAN, ROBERTS and CARTER, JJ.

WERNICK, Justice.

Defendant John F. Ashe, Jr. has appealed from a judgment of conviction entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County) on the verdict of a jury finding him guilty of the crime of robbery committed with the use of a firearm, in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 651(1)(B) and § 1252(5).

We deny the appeal and affirm the judgment of conviction.

On the evidence the jury was entitled to find the following facts.

Sometime before 1:30 P.M. on October 30, 1979, the South Portland police were informed that persons in a blue buick, which bore the Massachusetts registration 687CGM and was parked beside a South Portland restaurant, appeared to be in possession of a shotgun. At approximately 1:30 P.M. that same day two or three men robbed the LaVerdiere's Drugstore in South Portland. The report was that at least one of the robbers was carrying a shotgun. Shortly after the police had broadcast a description of the blue buick, State police officers observed a car fitting the broadcast description. It had two occupants and appeared to be riding very low in the rear. The police stopped the car and ordered the man and woman who were the occupants to step outside the vehicle. Observing shotgun shells and a handgun in the car, the police opened the trunk of the car. They saw the defendant and another man crouched inside the trunk. They also found a bottle of percodan, ¹ a shotgun and a plastic garbage bag. ² All four occupants of the car were transferred to the custody of the South Portland police.

Having been indicted on November 9, 1979 for armed robbery, defendant, on December 7, 1979, filed a motion to suppress inculpatory statements made to police officers during an interrogation conducted on the day of the robbery. Defendant contended that because he was under the influence of narcotics and other drugs at the time of the interrogation, his statements to police were not the product of a rational intellect and a free will. After a hearing, the Superior Court denied the motion to suppress. At defendant's trial his inculpatory statements to the police were admitted in evidence.

As his only point on appeal defendant asserts that the refusal to suppress the inculpatory statements he made during police interrogation was error because the evidence was insufficient to justify a finding by the presiding justice that beyond a reasonable doubt defendant had in fact waived his constitutional rights. We reject this contention.

Defendant was arrested during the afternoon of October 30, 1979 and was held in the lock-up area of the South Portland police station until approximately 6:00 P.M. He was then brought to an interview room where he was joined by officers Roche and Guimont. Immediately, defendant was informed of his Miranda rights. He was asked if he understood them, and he responded affirmatively. Defendant also stated that he was willing to talk with the detectives without having a lawyer present.

Both officers testified that defendant told them that he was a heroin addict and that he had taken 50 percodan tablets during the day. ³ Hearing this, Officer Roche asked defendant if he wanted to be seen by a doctor. Defendant refused the offer of medical attention, explaining that the percodan did not bother him and that he was concerned only about heroin withdrawal symptoms he expected to experience the next day. Both officers further testified that during the course of the 45 minute interrogation defendant appeared to them to be alert and rational, and he provided them with a narrative description of events and responded coherently to questions. The officers added that even though defendant exhibited a certain degree of nervousness, nothing suggested that he was disoriented, mentally confused, or physically ill.

At the close of the interview the officers transported defendant to the Cumberland County jail. The jailer, upon being informed of defendant's drug history, refused to admit him until he had been examined at Maine Medical Center. Defendant was then taken to Maine Medical Center where he was examined in the emergency room by surgical resident Dr. John Atwood. At the suppression hearing, Dr. Atwood offered the following description of the defendant's condition at the time of this examination:

"A. Well, I basically asked him how he felt.

"Q. What did he say?

"A. Well, he was quite oriented. He knew where he was. He felt a bit warm. He was perspiring. He was not dizzy. He had no visual complaints, not delusional at all, no abdomen pain.

"Q. He was not delusional at all?

"A. He was not delusional.

"Q. All right.

"A. No abdomen pain, no chest pain. He basically was just a bit nervous at that time."

Defendant makes no claim that the police used physical force or psychologically coercive tactics against him, or that they elicited his statements by making threats or promises. Rather, the issue raised is that defendant's actual condition was such, at the result of his addiction and alleged consumption of percordan, that his objectively appearing voluntary,...