State v. Boisvert
| Decision Date | 26 December 1967 |
| Citation | 236 A.2d 419 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Henri BOISVERT. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Hubert Ryan, County Atty., Farmington, Richard S. Cohen, and Daniel G. Lilley, Asst. Attys. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.
William E. McCarthy, Rumford, for defendant.
Before WILLIAMSON, C. J., and WEBBER, TAPLEY, MAREDEN, DUFRESNE and WEATHERBEE, JJ.
On appeal. The Grand Jury of Franklin County returned separate indictments against three brothers from the Province of Quebec, charging each with the crime of robbery. The indictments alleged an assault upon a warden of the Inland Fisheries & Game Department and a taking from his person by force and violence a .38 caliber revolver which was the property of the Department. The three brothers were tried together on November 1 and 2, 1966, and the jury returned verdicts of guilty of larceny from the person against all three. Only the defendant Herni Boisvert is here on appeal.
The defendants did not take the witness stand and all the testimony as to the events on the highway came from the warden and a Mrs. Pelletier, who was a companion of the three defendants at the time the warden stopped their car, both being presented by the State.
Thus it was undisputed that some time after midnight on September 24, 1966, Warden Savage, whose district is a wilderness area extending to the Candaian border, received a telephone call which impelled him to dress in his uniform and go out upon Route 16 to stop and examine automobiles headed toward the border. He stopped one car, made no arrest and continued on to a point near a highway bridge across the Kennebago River. Observing the glow of approaching headlights he placed his pickup truck crossways of the road in such a manner that it occupied more than one-half of the highway. When the approaching car was about 100 yards away the warden stepped into the part of the highway which remained clear so that he was illuminated by his own headlights and signalled the oncoming car to stop with his lighted flashlight. Mrs. Pelletier was able to observe and recognize his signals from a long distance. Warden Savage was then dressed in the full uniform of the Department with a badge on the left breast of his red winter issue coat and on his uniform hat. His pickup truck had the distinctive antennae of a two-way radio on the side facing the approaching car.
The car failed to stop but swerved to the right towards the warden, the mirror on the driver's side striking the warden on the elbow as he jumped from its path. The right hand wheels of the car went into the ditch and its motor stalled but the driver kept trying to restart the motor and the car continued to move down the hill, partly in the ditch, with its starter 'grinding' while the warden ran beside it shouting for the driver to stop. The front window was down on the driver's side and the warden ran with his hand on the door. He hit the windshield with his flashlight two or three times. When the car continued on, the warden, who was running along beside the car's front tire shouting for the defendants to stop, took out his pistol and fired a shot at the tire. Achieving no results, he ran another ten yards and fired another shot at the tire. The car continued down the hill and stopped on the bridge.
The warden opened the door and the driver got out and dropped the car keys which the warden picked up and put in his pocket. The warden saw the passenger in front puting a pistol under the front seat. When the warden came around to that side of the car, the passenger threw the pistol to the driver. The warden returned to the driver and as he was reaching for the pistol, which the driver was holding behind him, the brother in the back seat confronted him with a rifle pointed at the warden, although Mrs. Pelletier tried to restrain the brother. He held the rifle on the warden on one side and someone held the pistol on him on the other. The defendant then took the warden's revolver and flashlight. The man with the rifle marched the warden back 136 paces up the hill near his truck and the defendant, who accompanied them, got in the truck, backed it to the side of the road, tore the wires from its ignition system and rendered his two-way radio inoperable. The driver of the car demanded his keys which the warden gave him. Then the men motioned with the rifle for the warden to return to their car. When the rifle was turned away from him Warden Savage ran toward the woods and the men then ran for their car which was then driven away toward the border. It was then about 2:45 A.M. and very foggy.
The only material difference in the testimony of Warden Savage and Mrs. Pelletier is that while he said he believes that his revolver was pointed at the ground when the car stopped and the men got out, she testified that after the car stopped the warden pointed his gun at the driver, 'making signs for him to get out.'
As a result of cooperative efforts by Canadian and American officers the automobile was located the next day, and that evening, while another brother involved was being interviewed by Corporal Roy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Quebec, that brother made a telephone call as a result of which the defendant came into Corporal Roy's office and placed the warden's revolver on Roy's desk before a word had been spoken by the officer.
The defendant has designated eight Points on Appeal. Although the explanation for our disposition of this case is found in Point No. 8, as this matter may be tried again we believe that a brief consideration of several of the other points would be of assistance to the parties. We state some of these Points on Appeal in the language used by the defendant.
When the State offered the revolver in evidence, defendant's counsel objected. However, because he did not state the ground or grounds upon which he objected he cannot assign this Point as error. M.R.C.P. Rule 51 requires that one objecting to a ruling of a presiding justice must,
'* * * at the time the ruling or order of the court is made or sought, (make) known to the court the action which he desires the court to take or his objection to the action of the court and his grounds therefore * * *.'
The comparatively recent adoption of this rule made no change in this respect in long standing Maine procedure. Our courts have repeatedly held that one objection to the offer of evidence and exhibits which is not accompanied by a statement of grounds for the objection cannot be relied upon on appeal, the purpose of the requirement being to enable the court to rule advisedly. State v. Plunkett, 64 Me. 534 (1874); State v. Savage, 69 Me. 112 (1879); State v. Budge, 127 Me. 234, 142 A. 857 (1928).
As this matter may again come to trial we will note briefly that there is no merit to the defendant's present contention that the rule of Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974 (1966) controls the admission of the revolver in evidence. The defendant's argument that the State was...
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State v. Lewisohn
...its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection." (Emphasis added) In State v. Boisvert, 1967, 236 A.2d 419, 422, the requirement of Rule 30(b) that a party state distinctly the grounds of his objection, the Court said, is not a mere formality......
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...the wrongful taking of the property. State v. McKeough, supra, (n. 4, 300 A.2d at p. 757) makes clear that, as noted in State v. Boisvert, Me., 236 A.2d 419 (1967):'Maine is one of the jurisdictions which has recognized as an exception to the simultaneous intent rule the principle that if t......
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State v. Rice
...met. In Thompson the renewal failed to specify the portion of the charge to which objection was being made. Yet, citing State v. Boisvert, Me., 236 A.2d 419 (1967), we "The presiding Justice was fully aware of the defendant's requested instruction . . . . The defendant has complied with the......