State v. Bridges

• Decision Date: 06 August 2003
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Katrina BRIDGES.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

829 A.2d 247

2003 ME 103

STATE of Maine v. Katrina BRIDGES.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: February 13, 2003.

Decided: August 6, 2003.

G. Steven Rowe, AG, Donald W. Macomber, AAG (orally), Augusta, for the State.

David J. Mitchell, (orally), Mitchell & Mitchell, Calais, Jeffrey Toothaker, Toothaker & Chong, Ellsworth, for the defendant.

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

CLIFFORD, J.

[¶ 1] Katrina Bridges appeals a judgment of conviction for murder in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (1983),¹ entered in the Superior Court (Washington County, Gorman, J.) following a jury trial. Katrina contends that the trial court (1) improperly denied her motion to suppress certain incriminating statements she made to law enforcement officers; (2) improperly disallowed her attempts to present alternative perpetrator evidence, and refused to give an alternative perpetrator jury instruction; and (3) erred in allowing the State to present prejudicial evidence of her prior bad acts in conjunction with prior statements made by the victim. We are persuaded by Katrina's contentions that she was subject to custodial interrogation during a third interview by the police on January 3, 2001, without Miranda warnings, and that the Superior Court erred in denying her motion to suppress certain of her incriminating statements. Because this error is not harmless, we vacate the judgment.

[¶ 2] In January of 2001, Katrina, then twenty years old, was living with the victim, Chris Ingraham, in Jonesboro. The couple met in New York around late 1999 or early 2000, and began living with Chris's parents in New York. During their stay, a large sum of Chris's parents' money was discovered to be missing. Chris and Katrina moved to Maine shortly thereafter.

[¶ 3] The couple's relationship began to deteriorate. Chris worked at the Commissary in Cutler, and he told various coworkers that Katrina needed counseling because, Chris believed, she had stolen money from his parents, and also from her own grandmother. Chris told them that if Katrina did not get help, he intended to leave her and return to New York with Logan, the couple's four-month-old son.

[¶ 4] On the morning of January 2, 2001, a Columbia Falls woman, whom Katrina knew, discovered that her Sears and Roebuck twelve-gauge shotgun with a cracked stock, and Remington Model Nylon 66 .22 rifle with a scope and a broken screw, were stolen from her gun cabinet. Later that morning, Katrina went to Main Street Discount in Machias and pawned sixteen PlayStation games. She told the owner that she had already sold a .22 rifle to another pawnbroker in East Machias. Katrina also indicated to the owner that she had a shotgun to sell, but Katrina did not show it to the owner, despite his desire to see it.

[¶ 5] Katrina subsequently called Chris at work and told him that their home had been burglarized. Katrina told Chris that among the items taken were a shotgun given to Chris by his parents, several PlayStation games, and some of Katrina's jewelry. Katrina never reported a burglary to the police.

[¶ 6] Around 4:45 A.M. on the morning of January 3rd, a gas station security camera captured Katrina purchasing gas and a drink with cash. The attendant watched Katrina drive up in a dark colored Nissan Pathfinder, accompanied only by her baby in the back seat. At 12:30 P.M. on that same day, Katrina showed up with the baby at the home of her mother, Ellen Bridges, in a highly emotional state. Ellen did not see Katrina approach the house, but, when she opened the door, she noticed that Katrina was not wearing shoes, her face was swollen, and her lips were red. Katrina told Ellen that she was concerned for Chris, and, thinking that Katrina and the baby might be in danger, Ellen drove them to the Machias fire station building, which is attached to the Machias Police Department.

[¶ 7] When they arrived at 12:45 P.M., Katrina and the baby were led into one of two empty bedrooms. The 10 × 12 bedroom had one blind-covered window, and contained a bed and bureau. There were two exits from the bedroom: one led through an adjoining bathroom, while the other opened directly into the hallway. Katrina's feet were covered with blankets.

[¶ 8] Trooper Paul White arrived on the scene at approximately 1:02 P.M., entered the bedroom and, with the doors closed, began to ask Katrina what happened. Katrina, while sitting on the bed, remained in an emotional state and cried throughout the interview. She told Trooper White that she had been the victim of a kidnapping. Katrina also claimed that two men forced their way into her home, shot Chris, and kidnapped her and the baby. Ellen continued to come in and out of the bedroom while Trooper White interviewed Katrina. The first interview lasted until Detective Stanley Jandreau arrived between 1:30 and 2:00 P.M.

[¶ 9] Detective Jandreau conducted a second interview of Katrina in the same bedroom from approximately 2:25 to 3:43 P.M.² Katrina remained extremely upset throughout the duration of her conversation with Detective Jandreau, but, during this interview, she told a more detailed story. She indicated that, at 3:00 A.M. on the morning of January 3, two Canadian men drove into Katrina's and Chris's driveway in a light colored Jeep Cherokee, forced their way into the home, and demanded to see Chris because he owed them money. According to Katrina, one of the men took a shotgun from a gun rack in the home and forced her and the baby into Katrina's Nissan Pathfinder. As she was led away from her home, Katrina heard a gunshot. She said the unknown individual drove her and the baby around until noon, and let them off in Whitneyville. At the conclusion of the second interview, the police began to search for Katrina's Pathfinder and for the Canadian men.

[¶ 10] Between 1:00 and 1:20 P.M., the police found Chris lying naked on the bed in the bedroom at Chris and Katrina's residence on Look Point Road in Jonesboro. Chris's hand and left foot were partially covered by a blanket, and there was dried vomit and blood around his mouth and face. Chris was breathing, but he was unconscious and unresponsive. Chris was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Machias where a CAT scan revealed that he had a small-caliber bullet lodged in his brain.

[¶ 11] After the first interview, Trooper White drove to Flats Road in Marshfield and found Katrina's Nissan Pathfinder with a loaded shotgun in the back.³ Detective Brian Smith then spoke with Raymond Getchell, Katrina's great uncle, who owned the woodlot where Katrina's Pathfinder was found. Getchell said that he left his woodlot at 11:30 A.M. for lunch and returned at around 12:30 P.M. to find the Pathfinder. As he approached, Getchell saw Katrina exit the driver's side of the Pathfinder and start walking toward him with the baby in her arms. Katrina told him that her vehicle broke down and that she needed a ride to her mother's. He drove her to Ellen Bridges's house, but as he approached the residence, Katrina asked him not to drive all the way into the driveway. Katrina got out of the vehicle with the baby, and walked toward the residence.

[¶ 12] Detective Smith arrived at the fire station at 4:10 P.M; he knew that both Trooper White and Detective Jandreau had already interviewed Katrina.⁴ After noticing some inconsistencies between the evidence found at the crime scene and Katrina's initial statement to Detective Jandreau, Detectives Jandreau and Smith decided to initiate and tape-record a third interview. The detectives commenced the third interview of Katrina in the fire station bedroom at approximately 4:34 P.M.⁵ Katrina remained very emotional, and continued to sit on the bed without shoes while the doors were closed and the shade to the window remained down. Katrina was told she was free to leave before the interrogation began, but the detectives did not read the Miranda warnings to her.

[¶ 13] At the outset of the third interview, Detective Smith asked Katrina to again recount the events of the day in detail. While she did so, Detective Smith repeatedly expressed his belief to her that she was not being truthful and told her that he did not believe her version of how she was dropped off at Getchell's woodlot. In response, Katrina asked to speak to Getchell, her great uncle, three different times, but Detective Smith denied all of her requests. Detective Smith also told Katrina that he saw her footprints in the snow near her house, though he never actually looked for footprints. Detective Jandreau explicitly instructed Katrina to stay seated on the bed and to tell the truth.

[¶ 14] During this first portion of the third interview, Katrina indicated that she was not feeling well. Detective Smith nonetheless persisted and told her that they would take her socks and match them up to prints found at the crime scene. Detective Jandreau also told Katrina that they had no doubt that she was more involved than she claimed. Katrina then began to alter her story; she claimed that the Canadians arrived at her house demanding that she perform certain sexual acts, and, when she refused, they raped Chris. Detective Jandreau retorted, saying that the Canadians were not responsible for Chris's death. The first portion of the third interview concluded at 5:58 P.M., when the detectives left Katrina alone to "be thinking about the truth." They asked for and received Katrina's permission to ask her more questions.⁶

[¶ 15] The third interview resumed at 6:24 P.M., when Detective Smith was joined by Dale Keegan, a polygraph examiner and trained interviewer, who had driven from Caribou to help conduct the interview. Detective Smith again confronted Katrina, telling her that it was she, not one of the Canadian men, who drove the Pathfinder onto Getchell's woodlot. He told her that the police found an eyewitness to prove it. Katrina demanded to speak with this eyewitness, but...